ALIENS: EQUESTRIAN MARINES
by Needler 343
Summary: fourteen weeks ago the USS. Sulaco was reported destroyed and yet the rescue team sent to LV-426 finds it floating in orbit & they go to investigate, but little do they know that a certain pony is practicing some highly advanced teleportation spells that drags an unfortunate marine into the world of ponies! but a darkness emerges and he has to fight for those he has learned to love
1. USS Sulaco

aliens : equestrian marines

chapter 1: USS. Sulaco

warning: initialize code 01928-19912-jk..

... DNA sample recovered, subject Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley (kia)... cloning/ replication of subject requires time... success rate-unknown- attempting to combine 2 DNA samples... partially successful. of no use to bio-wep division. discarding...product: - RIPLEY?

sex: male

hair: curly, brown

eyes: brown

status: subject is appx. 6,1...Caucasian...direct product of fusing of Ripley's DNA and DNA recovered from most suitable subject... cpl. D . Hicks (kia).

growth accelerated to make subject age -19-

inserting subject into suitable roles... 1 match {colonial marine} drafting subject... accepted. -attempting to name subject... suggested name -Dwayne Ripley- combining (mothers) family name to (fathers) first name.

initializing subconscious training... ... ... complete.

waiting for command... ... ... ... ...

/computer! he has no zenomorph DNA in him. he is of no use to us, just let him get drafted and let him live out his life, no need for any red tape./

yes,  
... subject released on gateway station...creating suitable memories.

rank: pvt

enlisted on: USS. Sephora.

end file

pvt. Dwayne Ripley awake with a start, he was sitting or rather lying in a small room in a place he recognized as gateway space station. he got up and looked around, he had a strange dream but he couldn't remember what it was. all he could remember was that he needed to get up and go to his new ship, the USS. Sephora.

"uuurrgh... fuck me." was all he managed before he got up and made a cup of strong coffee. just before he was enlisted he had received a gift from Weyland-Yutani, a cat that they said belonged to someone related to him. "so Jonesy, what do i do now you little shit" he asked.

"meaow"

"figures, well you are staying with the vet until i get back so have fun" he said putting him in a small cage "he will be here soon so chill out" he said smiling and leaving the room and making his way down to the docking bay. he hoped his package would have arrived,he had been saving for it for as long as he could remember and this is what he was waiting for. he reached the dock and then proceeded into the airlock umbilical that connected the Sephora to the station when inside he saw a package for him on a table. "great!, its here" was all he managed before a corporal came up to his and introduced himself.

"yo, what's up" he said shaking his hand "the names James Keyes, its great to meat ya, i think we are going to get along just fine"

"me too, i think working with the rest of the team will be great" Dwayne said, looking over the African American corporal he noticed a bunch of scars in his fore arms. barbed wire he thought.

"whats in the bag?" James asked

"a little toy i bought" Dwayne said pulling out an antique pump action shotgun.

"oh we are definitely going to get along" said James ogling the weapon "is that real wood?"

"yeah" replied the amused Dwayne

"BADASS!" James yelled

that's when Dwayne noticed that the rest of the marines had arrived and were looking at him and his gun with interest.

"attention!" yelled the Sargent a huge man with a clipped beard and mustache as the leftenant enterd the room.

"alright people we are officially leaving so i hope you are ready for a long sleep." he said.

as the marines began to go about their business James came up to Dwayne and asked "so you paint you armor yet?"

"no why"

"well you better, it makes you look more bad-ass in the field"

"alright I'll get right on that"

Dwayne looked over his armor the standard for any marine and thought about how he could customize it.

"got it" he muttered as he picked up a paintbrush and began painting.

for some reason his subconscious told him to paint a pulse rifle crudley duck taped to a flamethrower onto his helmet and then a red heart onto his breastplate but then he thought it was incomplete and looked around the room for insparation, which he found in the form of a small copper padlock and a small screw-on ring which he screwed into his chestplate (over the heart he had painted) and then locked the padlock through it. just one more thing... he painted a power loader on the other side of his helmet.

"there, all finished" he muttered

"alright ladies! time for beddy-byes" yelled the Sargent.

and they all went to the cryo-tubes for a long sleep.

meanwhile in a land far away a small purple pony was walking with a rainbow colored pony.

"so why are we here anyways" said rainbow dash

"because i want to try my new telepotation spell" replied twilight  
"but...WHY" said dash

"because this will allow me to teleport an object of any size from anywhere to anywhere" replied twilight grinning

"that sounds cool" said a very sarcastic dash

" hey with that attitude you will never get a very special somepony" said twilight joking.

"hey just because no pony has the coolness to date me doesn't mean i will never find a very special somepony" replied dash

"OK, just help me practice" said twilight

"how?" dash asked

" i am going to try to teleport that rock to those trees over there and i need you to make sure that nothing goes wrong."

"okay" said rainbow smiling

"here we go" said twilight as her horn began to glow.

WARNING

EVACUATE PERSONNEL

EMERGENCY THAW... ORDER #21792151

PROXIMITY ALERT...

CRAFT: USS. SULACO

CLASSIFICATION: MILITARY

RECORD: DESTROYED 17 WEEKS AGO.

ERROR...ERROR...

WARNING

REANIMATING... ...

JOHNSON. L 09/7786/4/67543/6 LEU -M [LAURANCE]

DUTCH. R 09/5456/3564/2345 SRG -M [ROBERT]

KEYES. J 09/575423/65432/4 CORP -M [JAMES]

RIPLEY. D 09/?/?/? PVT -M [DWAYNE]

MARICHEQ. J.J 09/66556/645864/3 PVT -M [JOHN.J]

HOWARD. E 09/6664566/86576/ PVT -F [EMILY]

TANK. D 09/67854/355467/4 PVT -M [DAIMIAN]

ROSE. J 09/54574/3564/234 PIL -F [JENNA]

WATSON. P 09/65853/4536754/ CO-PIL -F [PENELOPE]

WARNING

ALL CREW TO COMBAT POSITIONS  
ORDER #21792151...

... ... ...

"what the fuck is up with that goddamn computer" said Damian

"oh man i feel like shit" said Jenna

"come on ladies! out of bed looks like we need to rescue some fellow marines from their shadows." said sgt. dutch

"wait, sir you might want to check this out" said James

"what is it corporal" said Johnson

" sir that ship is the Sulaco" he replied

...

about half an hour later the marines were assembled for a briefing in the hanger bay. there was a delay in the umbilical that connected them to the Sulaco and they had trouble alining themselves to the other ship.

"seventeen weeks ago USS. Sulaco was reported destroyed, and yet its on the other side  
of that door in orbit over LV-426" said leftenant Johnson

"Jesus Christ" said Maricheq

" that is all i know,so we are sending a boarding party to search for survivors"

"umm... sir who is going?" asked James

"all of us" replied dutch.

-  
log # 17 week 17

USS. Saphora... docking... warning explosive decompression risk high..warning.. all resident crew KIA/MIA.

scanning friendlies... identifying..

JOHNSON. L 09/7786/4/67543/6 LEU -M [LAURANCE]

DUTCH. R 09/5456/3564/2345 SRG -M [ROBERT]

KEYES. J 09/575423/65432/4 CORP -M [JAMES]

RIPLEY. D 09/?/?/? PVT -M [DWAYNE]

MARICHEQ. J.J 09/66556/645864/3 PVT -M [JOHN.J]

HOWARD. E 09/6664566/86576/ PVT -F [EMILY]

TANK. D 09/67854/355467/4 PVT -M [DAIMIAN]

ROSE. J 09/54574/3564/234 PIL -F [JENNA]

WATSON. P 09/65853/4536754/ CO-PIL -F [PENELOPE]

genetic relation detected... marine history unknown/

attempting to identify... fail (14)

unknown response needed

warning explosive decompression is assured if atmo. comes into contact with energy...

X to all weapons discharge

X to all unnecessary circuitry  
WARNING

ATMO. breeches in sectors A-K..

WARNING decompression risk EXTREMELY HIGH

WARNING energy build-up at the bow of the Sulaco..  
calculating...

if energy signature continues growing at current rate explosion in...

5:00

4:59

WARNING

4:58  
unable to contact/warn USCM personnel...

computer will continue to monitor all energy SIGS. until told otherwise...

WARNING

END LOG

"OH SHIT!" thought Dwayne as he ran back to the airlock, why did he always have to go snooping around in an unknown location?

"****MARINE!****COM-*** EXPLOSIVE DECO-*** GET BACK TO THE AIRLOCK*** NOW!" came the voice of the leftenant over the radio.

"**ALL OTHER CREW****SAFE-** ABORED THE SEPHOR-"

"come on" said Dwayne through gritted teeth, he reached the airlock, he was in the umbilical then... it broke. the venting atmo nearly pulled him out as he gripped a handle-bar.

"*** MARINE GET TO A DROPSHI-***RIDE IT OU-***"

but the rest was lost to Dwayne when he saw a purple light envelope the Sulaco.  
"fuck"

as he clawed his way back into the Sulaco and sealed the airlock he did not feel safe almost as if there was a presence on the ship he couldn't identify, he ran to the hanger where he found the remains of an android ...and a dropship, he ran into the later and buckled up then he accessed the computer.

access GRANTED:

PVT. ...

ENERGY SOURCE GROWING...

WARNING

USS. SEPHORA CHANGING COURSE TO AVOID COLLISION...

WARNING

USS. SULACO IS BEING SUCKED INTO ENERGY SOURCE. SEEKING BETTER DESCRIPTION...SEEKING...SEEKING... [TELEPORTER]?

DOES NOT COMPUTE. FAIL (16)&(17)

ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH USS. SEPHORA...

SUCCESS!

... ... ... ...

ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE ALLY SHIP... ... ...

FAILURE?!

WARNING

USS. SULACO HAS BEEN SUCKED INTO [TELEPORTER]..  
WARNING

WARNING

WARNING

-  
Rainbow dash looked at the rock twilight was supposed to be moving, "did it work" was all she could say.

"yes... what this cant be" said twilight

"what?"  
"instead of moving the rock i ... oh dear... tore a tiny weeny hole in between dimensions" she said.

"well nothing bad seems to have happened so.." dash never finished her sentence as a huge metal slab fell through the sky above her.

"oh boy" she said "the princesses are not going to like this"

just then a loud thud could be heard as the thing crashed into the everfree forest.

"what do we do now?"

"we call the princesses and hope they know what to do" said twilight.


	2. Damage Control

chapter 2: damage control

RESTARTING... ... ...

assessing situation... warning emergency venting. scanning atmo  
secure scanning for survivors {emergency override #  
6556535... 1 subject found/ RIPLEY. D 09/?/?/? PVT

-M [DWAYNE] no information on subject

WARNING

proximity warning: 8 unidentified contacts... scanning... ...

subjects are equine...

WARNING

scans blocked.. equines attempting to breach hull!...

WARNING! BREACH IN CRYO BAY!...

pvt. Hudson left recording to be used when unidentified contacts  
enter ship... playing.

recording is[humorous?]

unexplained use of energy... [TELEKINESIS?!]

fail (14)

taking inventory...

X1 dropship

X1 APC

X5 power loaders

X15 pulse rifles

X8 incinerators

X1 base plasma pulse rifle.

X1 case grenades

X1 case BB [sonic electronic ball beakers}

- personnel-

original crew...

GORMAN.S. [KIA]

APONE.A. [KIA]

HICKS.D. [EVAC/ MIA] ACIDIC WOUND

FERRO.C. [KIA]

VASQUEZ.J. [KIA]

DRAKE.M. [KIA]

SPUNKMEYER.D. [KIA]

DIETRICH.C. [KIA]

FROST.R [KIA]

WIERESBOWSKI.T. [KIA]

CROWE.T. [KIA]

BISHOP.L. [EVAC/MIA] DAMAGED

RIPLEY.E. [EVAC/MIA]

BURKE.C. [KIA]

- UNOFFICIAL PERSONNELL -

REBECCA JORDEN...[NEWT] CIVILIAN [EVAC/MIA]

RIPLEY. D 09/?/?/? PVT -M [DWAYNE] [CURRENTLY ON  
USS. SULACO]

WARNING!

equines are approaching pvt. Dwayne/attempting to distract until

subject regains consciousness...

... subject awake...

/ computer, what the fuck is going on/

unknown breach sir, suggest you rearm in the armory...

/ OK I'm going computer, try to distract them/

yes sir.

... shutting down lighting... warning! subjects are re

energizing lighting...

FAIL (14)

unknown response needed...

"so let me get this straight " said princess Celestia and she and Luna walked with the

rest of the mane six to strange object "a teleportation spell did this?!"

"yes i am so sorry your highness" said twilight

"its alright, just don't use an ancient spell again without telling me" smiled Celestia

"oh i hope no pony was hurt" said Fluttershy

"i am sure that this thing had no pony in it" said Luna

" so what do y'all think this is?" said applejack

"we shall find out soon" said Celestia

"oh! what a ghastly mess this thing is" said rarity

"well this is as close as we can get" said dash gently hitting the thing.

"its metal" said twilight shocked

"it was created by beings then" said Luna

"yes, so it would seem" replied Celestia

"well what are we waiting for!" yelled dash hitting the side of the white thing that had

'AIRLOCK' written on it only to be bashed back off of the hardened titanium.

"oh Dashie, you got no leg power" said applejack walking up to the door "this is

somethin' i like to call gettin' her done" then she kicked the door...CLANG!...

"ow my hooves"moned applejack

"stand back my friends" said Celestia as her horn began to glow.

then the door opened

"oh my" said applejack as they entered "what a mess"

"oh the technology could be really useful" said twilight

"what a horrible paint color" said Rarity as she gazed at the walls and floor.

"ummm... rarity" said princess Luna "that is blood"

"ahhhh!... " said rarity as she swooned a little

"look"said rainbow pointing at a screen that had begun to light up.

and on it a strange creature appeared but what made everyone gasp was the fact that it

spoke their language perfectly.

play

"hey man!, this is the ultimate bad-ass! telling you aliens to get the hell off this ship  
before me and my squad on ultimate bad-asses find you!"

then another creature entered the screen

"Hudson what are you doing"  
"oh nothin' hicks just leaving a message for Ripley's aliens"

"oh shut up and help me with this missile"

end

"what did that mean?" asked twilight

"i don't know my student, but we should move on" said Celestia

"sister what if one of those things attacks us" whispered Luna

"Luna look at the blood around you, do you think anything could fight after that"

"we apologize, we art losing thine head" relied Luna

"look at that sign!" said pinkie pie "this place needs a...PARTY!"

"cryo bay,what does that mean?" asked fluttershy

then she screamed as the lights went out but the princesses restored them in a jiffy.

"do you hear that " said pinkie

a faint thudding of footsteps was approaching

"come out!" yelled Celestia "we mean you no harm"

then a ape-like creature ran across the doorway and skidded behind some lockers

"creature, come out and i will not harm you" yelled Luna

a small silence was penetrated by two words from the creature.

"fuck that"

"how dare you!" said rarity "do not speak to the princess like that!"

... "fuck you"

"oh that's it!" said rarity as her horn began to glow

Dwayne was thinking how he should handle this when a violet glow encased him

"what the hell.."

then he was dragged out into the open for all to see

"what is it!?" said pinkie pie excitedly

"what are you" said Luna approaching him

Dwayne could only stare are the deep blue alicorn came up to him, then he pointed his  
pulse rifle at her and fired... but the round never left the barrel in fact the whole gun  
floated from his grip and hovered in front of the white alicorn.

"how dare you try to hurt my sister" said Celestia disassembling the gun in mid-air and

letting it fall to the ground

"ok...ok i am sorry! but you crashed my ship" said Dwayne

"i forgive you, who knows in your position i would have done the same" said Celestia

then she released him and he stood up, he was as tall as the princess which made some

of the ponies nervous, but one had other things on her mind

"this place is the coolest thing ever" said rainbow dash.

"ummmm... could i use the computer for a sec?" Dwayne asked.

"of course" replied Celestia wondering what this 'computer' was

Dwayne walked up to a terminal and typed in a few code to access blueprints. he might

need it if he was to explain to the ponies what this place was and attempt to forge a

friendship with them and to see just how badly damaged she was...

accessing files... ...

accessing Sulaco blueprints ... override #7

The USS Sulaco is the Marine ship used by Lt. Gorman's squad in 2179. It  
was the only well-known Conestoga class Troop Transport mainly because  
of its constant bad luck.

more information available...

enter

Over 385 meters in length and massing some 78,000 metric tons, the Conestogas are designed to an 8-17-0 layout, an asymmetric configuration which offers the optimum cargo capacity within a compact and well-armoured hull. The spaceframe extends forward and aft of the vessel's primary power system, a Westingland A-59 fusion reactor with a maximum generating output of 3.6 Terawatts.

damage list complete

opening file... ... ...

red: heavy damage

yellow: moderate damage

green: light damage.

-end file-

"crap" Dwayne muttered  
"are you done... ummm"

"Dwayne or pvt. Ripley... its up to you" he said to the white unicorn

"alright Dwayne, do you wish to get anything from this place before we leave?" Luna asked

"actually yes" he replied "could you meet me here in about one hour?"

"of course" they replied

"feel free to look around.,.. but don't touch anything." he said

"yay"said pinkie pie

and they all moved off, but rainbow dash wanted to get to know this dwayne a little better. "hey can i come with you?" she asked

"why not" he replied

they began walking through the corridors and talking, well by talking i mean rainbow dash is talking and by that i mean she is bragging about her flying skills. she didn't even notice as they entered the hangar bay and as Dwayne slunk into the shadows.

"so then i was like BOOM a-, hey where did you go?"

then she heard a loud thud. rainbow dashes eyes opened in horror as she saw a huge monster, it was yellow and had a flashing yellow light on top. it lifted its massive hands to reveal two claws that closed and opened with a menacing click.

"H-H-H-HELP!" she screamed

"hey calm down, its just a power loader" Dwayne said

"a what?"

"huh... a big robot that i control" he said rolling his eyes

"so why do you need it?" asked rainbow

"just in case anything goes wrong" he replied.

"ha! nothing that bad could happen" she laughed

"yeah... well"

"whats wrong?" rainbow asked

"did you see all the blood" he muttered

"yeah... " she replied

"now think about how it got there..." Dwayne said coldly

"oh boy... i am so sorry"

"its OK, but if anything trys that with me.." then he lifted the power loaders arms "they will have a big surprise"

"that looks so cool" said dash

"well i still have a few thing to do..." he said leading dash to the armory

"wow" was all dash managed at the sight of the weapons "what are they?"

"uhhh... nothing" he said thinking that introducing this innocent to the prospect of weapons. he grabbed two flamethrowers, a pulse rifle, a smart gun, duck-tape, grenades ,one sonic electronic ball breaker and a motion tracker.

"wow, that's a lot of stuff" said a grinning dash.

"i am going to need it if i get stuck out there" he relied grinning.

when they got back to the power loader he grabbed a welding torch and attached a  
flamethrower on one arm of the loader and a smart gun on the other. then he duck taped  
the pulse rifle to the second flamethrower and stowed the rest of the equipment.


	3. Bug Hunt

Chapter 3: bug hunt

The princesses and the five other members of the mane six were waiting for dash and the alien just outside the airlock.

"Where could they be" mused twilight

"I don't know my student, but i can sense this... alien will not harm us unless provoked" stated Celestia.

Their thoughts were interrupted by a cutting noise near the entrance.

"What the hey..." was all applejack managed before the section of wall fell out and rainbow dash emerged.

"Dash where were you" commented rarity

"i was helping Dwayne" she replied

"Helping him with what?" asked Luna stepping forward

but her question was answered as a huge yellow object jumped out of the hole.

"oh my goodness" said rarity "how outlandish"

" is everyone ready to go" Dwayne asked with a smirk on his face

"ummm... yes Mr. Dwayne" said Celestia, slightly surprised at the technological marvel.

"Your majesty, should he really go through town? he could start a panic" said a royal guard.

"good point shining armor" replied Celestia "alright i will go and tell the ponies with twilight. Sister and the rest of the group will go through the everfree forest and meet us when we are done, agreed"

"Yeah!" everyone yelled

"I don't like this guy, he is too dangerous to be left with the princess" muttered shining armor under his breath as he left with Celestia.

And they moved off, but from under the wreckage of the Sulaco something stirred and pulled itself out... the Ursa Minor was A.N.G.R.Y, its cave had just been flattened and it wanted revenge. it sniffed the air and smelled something strange, it looked and it saw it in the distance a group making its way through the forest and it began to chase them down.

"great, that's just great" thought Dwayne he had just got here and instead of gaining the ponies trust he had managed to knock out one of their princesses.

"How did it happen?" asked fluttershy

"She must have walked into the loader when i stopped to knock over that tree" said Dwayne

"Oh fiddle sticks, yer in trouble now" applejack said

"Why" asked Dwayne

"Because Princess Luna has what could be described as a temper" rarity commented

"Yeah, you should kinda... hide for a while" dash said

"Well i don't... wait what's that noise"

"Oh no" whispered fluttershy

"URSA MINOR!" yelled pinkie pie

"RUN, NOW!" Dwayne yelled at the group

They made it to the edge of the clearing before rainbow yelled "the princess!"

The princess was in the middle of the clearing and the ursa and just spotted her

"Oh no I can't watch" said fluttershy hiding under her mane.

Then they realized that Dwayne had disappeared then they saw him enter the clearing in the power loader he brought, he was standing right over the princess when he screamed

"Get away from her you BITCH!"

Then they clashed.

The ursa slashed only to miss and the loader hit it in the head

"Yeah! Get some!"

Then it grabbed the loader under the arms an bit down on the head

"oh I can't watch" said a tearing rarity

"Look" yelled dash

Dwayne was using the smart gun he had welded to the arm and was shooting the ursa... then it ran out of ammo.

"let's turn up the heat" he said with a grin that would have made Celestia herself shiver.

And the ponies looked on in horror as a wall of flame erupted from the other arm,

Burning the ursa and causing it to writhe in pain. When he noticed that the flamethrower

Was running low he used the weight of the loader to pin the ursa.

"EAT THIS!" he yelled throwing an active sonic electronic BB into its mouth. It roared and swallowed the bomb. Dwayne jumped out of the loader and ran to the princess, he didn't have the time to carry her to safety so he did the only other thing... he wrapped his arms around her and used his body as a shield.

The ponies were watching this with interest "aww is he hugging the princess" said pinkie pie.

"I don't know" said dash "wait do you hear that?"

Tick tock tick tock...

"Hey that sounds like my cookie oven" said pinkie pie

Then an almost comical 'ding' filled the silence and the ursa stopped growling.

An incredibly loud noise filled the air as the ursa was sliced in half, the loader shattered and then silence...

"Is everypony alright!" applejack yelled

"Yeah, but what about the princess" said dash

"Come on everypony, look around we can find them" said pinkie

The princess awoke groggily "wha...huh" was all she managed when she saw the devastation around her then she noticed the alien hugging her, wait no shielding her from something.

"Oh no..." she said when she saw his wound, a gash running along his leg, penetrating deep into his thigh. "HELP!"

But she knew that the others were too far to hear.

"Don't be afraid I will help you" she said stroking his hair trying to calm him.

She then conjured a bandage from thin air and wrapped it around his leg.

"aaaargh!"

" oh dear, i umm..." she stuttered

"You... you have to get me back to the Sulaco, I think I sliced my artery" said Dwayne blacking out and coming back again. "tell the computer to prepare for emergency surgery"

"right" replied the princess she threw him over her back and was about to take off when she saw the rest of the group " twilight sparkle! Our friend has been wounded; tell my sister that i have taken him back to his vessel"

"Yes princess" replied twilight and they all left except for rainbow who followed the princess.

"Hey princess, need any help" she called

"Yes fair dash, he has told me to tell the computer to preform emergency surgery, go ahead and see what you can do" yelled Luna

"Ok!" said dash speeding ahead. When she entered the Sulaco she didn't know what to do "ummm, oh I hope this works... COMPUTER!" nothing happened then a screen came to life.

Restarting... ...

ERROR YOU ARE IDENTIFIED AS AN ALIEN... YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS.

SCANNING... WARNING HUMAN DETECTED NEARBY!

STATUS WOUNDED

EMERGENCY PROTOCOL #5865773 FIND SUITABLE HOST TO ASSISST IN RECOVERY... SCANNING

EQUINE FORM IS ONLY SUITABLE HOST... x2

PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME...

"UMM RAINBOW DASH" she screamed

...ACCEPTED

WILL _RAINBOW DASH_ PLEASE PROCEED TO ACTIVATE ALL LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS...

Y OR N... ... ...

Y.

PLEASE PROCEED TO CRYO BAY 1 FOR IMMEDIATE TREATMENT OF PATIENT...

"OK NOW WHAT!" asked rainbow dash

PLEASE PRESS [ENTER] TO CONTINUE

... BEGINNING PROCESS/ MEDIAL TUBE ACTIVE!/

[RUNNING NESSESSARY PROGRAMS]

0101011101010110101010100101 0101010101111101010101010101 0011101010100010101010100100 0101010001010001010101000010 1111101010101010010101011001 0100110101001010101010101010 01010101010101...

COMPLETE-

PLEASE PLACE PATIENT IN MEDICAL TUBE-

WARNING! IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

"OK GREAT!" yelled dash as a bulky white bed encased in glass rose from the floor and the bottom swung open

"Princess Luna put him in here quick!" said dash when she saw the princess enter the room

"Alright, there... how did you know how to work the.. Thing?" the princess asked

"hey look!" whispered dash as both ponies looked into the tube, small metal hands had begun to work at the wound cleaning it and bandaging it quickly before completing its task and opening its self again.

"Amazing" said Luna "I have never seen medical knowledge to this extent before"

"Yeah if twilight was here then she would be going crazy with that quill of hers" said dash laughing.

Then from inside the tube they heard a groaning

"Hey I think he is waking up" said dash

"Yes, do you know what happened exactly fair dash" said Luna

"well you sort of walked into his machine and blacked out then an ursa minor showed up and tried to eat you but Dwayne here was in his robot and fought it off, he threw a thing into its mouth and it made a really loud noise, so Dwayne jumped off of his robot to shield you, we thought he was hugging you until we saw the thing explode!" dash said very quickly

"Oh... alright" said Luna not really understanding anything.

Then they heard footsteps

"Sister where are you?!" came Celestia's worried voice

"In here!" yelled dash

As the rest of the ponies entered they noticed Luna's slightly singed mane and the fact that the new alien was in a glass tube.

"i suppose you want me to explain." said dash as they all looked at her.

"Alright", said Celestia "did the alien do this to that ursa minor?"

"Yes princess" said fluttershy

"And he did it by hand"

"Yes" came the unanimous response

"Well, I suppose I owe him thanks, from what I heard I would not have a sister if it were not for him" Celestia said as she thought about this creatures gallantry, feeling something strange well up inside her.

"it is true sister I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him" said Luna

"Yeah you should have seen it" said dash punching the air

"Oh I think I can help with that" said twilight

"What?" said Celestia

"His helmet, it has a recording device on it, here let me try" said twilight removing the camera and plugging it into a screen.

"How did you know how to do that" asked Celestia

"Well when he left and we had a chance to look around i found out how to work a small amount of the ships devices" said twilight with a small laugh

"twi, you never stop surprisein' me" said applejack

Then the screen lit up.

ACCESSING VIDEO LIBRARY...

NEW VIDEOS:

RIPLEY CAM... REC VIEW #45465523 [OCCURRED TODAY]

- OLDER VIDEOS -

HICKS CAM... REC VIEW #23457298394 [APPROX 17 WEEKS AGO]

HUDSON CAM... REC VIEW #2345685539 [APPROX 17 WEEKS AGO]

VASQUEZ CAM... REC VIEW #32843537 [APPROX 17 WEEKS AGO]

...

PLEASE SELECT VIDEO...

"Alright i guess it's the first one" said twilight

And she clicked on it. it displayed everything that had just happened, the ponies were shocked that the small round object could do so much damage .

"He really did save my life" said Luna gazing at the still body.

"Well that's it" said twilight when the video ended

"What about the other ones" said pinkie pie bouncing up and down.

"What? The other videos. Pinkie we can't do that they might be private" said twilight

"What if they help us learn about this species" said fluttershy quietly

"You know she could be right" said Celestia

"it doesn't matter anyway, look it says i need a code to watch them"

"i think he should stay, so he can learn our ways" said Luna.

"But where should he stay? we can't take him to canterlot, he would start a panic, so one of you should take him in and help him relax and learn the true meaning of friendship" beamed Celestia.

"he can stay with me if he wants" said a very timid fluttershy hiding behind her mane.

"I s'ppose he can stay with us, so long as he pulls his weight round the farm" said applejack

"He can stay with me, but we need a spell so he doesn't fall through the cloud" said dash

"I am sure he could stay with me, so long as he changes those dreadful cloths" said rarity

"Oh oh me me me" pinkie said as she bounced on the spot

"Yes my little pony" said Celestia

"He can stay at the shop and eat lots of cake, and we could have parties all the time" said pinkie speaking incredibly fast.

"And he would be more that welcome to stay at the library" said twilight

"Sister, i would like to observe him more closely myself, I have been needing a holiday anyway." said Celestia

"Of course" said Luna " i will handle all the royal duties, consider it a gift. And you could raise the sun from here."

"i think he should spend a few days at each of our houses, so he gets to know us better" suggested twilight.

"Wonderful idea twi" said applejack

"its settled then, he will spend a few nights at each of your houses respectively and my sister will watch over him and make sure nothing goes wrong" said Luna "i have to return to canterlot now, good day my little ponies" as she disappeared in a flash of white light.

"What happened" moaned Dwayne

"It's okay" said twilight "we put you in this thing and it fixed you"

"and we have decided to let you stay with us until you feel better" said rarity

"i have to go" said pinkie

"What, wait... you are going to throw a party aren't you." said fluttershy

"y..NO!" said pinkie bouncing out of the ship.

"she is isn't she" fluttershy said quietly turning to her friends

"Oh yeah" said rainbow looking at pinkie leave.

"So Dwayne who do you want to stay with first" asked twilight

"uhhh... who lives the closest?"

"Me' whispered fluttershy

"Okay lets go with that" said Dwayne getting up.


	4. Meat lover

chapter 4: meat

as the group moved towards fluttershy's house they asked Dwayne questions about his home and the people he knew and what he did for a job, and they all flinched when he said "badass" in a joking tone, hoping that it would change the topic. He hadn't said soldier because that would have meant explaining war which he wasn't eager to do. And they talked about other things as well like what his favorite thing to do was and if he liked equestria. And soon they had arrived at fluttershy's cottage. The first thing that struck him was the large amount of animals.

"Wow" he said

"Do you like it?" said fluttershy fearing the worst

"It's beautiful" he replied and fluttershy blushed. Then they heard a rumbling and Dwayne laughed as he patted his stomach "you don't mind if i make some food do you"

"Go ahead the kitchen is in there" said fluttershy and as Dwayne walked into the kitchen she turned to the others who were all seated

"Did he say what he ate?" asked fluttershy

"No, but he brought his own food all he needs to do is mix it with water" said twilight just as the soldier returned with a bowl of stuff.

"What an interesting aroma, we were just wondering what it was." said princess Celestia

"Well..." said Dwayne reading off of the back of the packet "it says Thai curry… which is vegetables, rice, cream, spices and lots of chicken!" he said smiling and taking a huge bite.

"ch..Chicken" said dash

"Yeah, it's great! Here want some?"

"No, no" said dash backing away

"Ok I just ... whoa" everyone in the room turned to face fluttershy who seemed to be having convulsions.

"You. Eat. Helpless. Chickens!" she said

"oh no" said twilight as all the other ponies in the room backed off.

"What.. I eat chicken, beef, lamb, and fish oh and this one time..." he said clearly not understanding the situation but he was silenced by a nervous gesture from twilight.

"how. could . you. eat. helpless. animals" said fluttershy advancing on him.

"But it's what we do, we eat everything" said Dwayne.

Then she was on him, he fell back pinned under fluttershy's weight then she gave him the stare

"What are y..." he moaned as he started to have a horrible migraine, but then it stopped as Celestia pulled fluttershy off him.

"my little pony, what did you do to him exactly?' she asked fluttershy

"i just gave him the stare, but I think he fought it too hard, I didn't know it would hurt him" she said cowering as the princess loomed over her

"it's fine, but I really think you should exercise more caution when dealing with him. and as for his... eating habits. Though I personally don't agree with him, his developed teeth suggest that he is an omnivore, wh-"

"Stop!" yelled Dwayne rubbing his head "its my fault, I should have been more considerate. and from what I hear this… stare must have a different effect on me than on other creatures"

"I am soo sorry" said fluttershy crying "but I love the animals so much"

"I know, its ok" he said and just as he said that fluttershy hugged him and practically soaked his fatigues with her tears and all he could do was hug her back and comfort her.

later when all the other ponies had left and fluttershy had gone to bed after curling up on Dwayne's lap for an hour and apologizing every minute or so. All that was left was him and Celestia. She had just finished telling the story of her sisters banishment, and they had decided to go to bed but there was one problem... there was only one spare bed. Dwayne and Celestia looked at each other before Dwayne said "its ok, here I will sleep on the floor"

"No I couldn't let you do that, let me" she said

"No, no its bad manners to let a lady sleep on the floor… You get the bed" he said

"You know we could just share the bed" said Celestia sheepishly " its definitely big enough."

"Alright, so long as you don't mind" he said and Celestia got on the bed and Dwayne began to remove his armor.

"Why are you undressing?" asked Celestia raising an eyebrow

"wwweeeelll... titanium body armor isn't the most comfortable thing to sleep in... and if i am going to lie next to you then it would make it easier to fit." he replied

Celestia blushed as he removed his armor, she thought what people would say if they caught her in the same bed as an alien, as he got into the bed she noticed his combat fatigues, they were scarred to say the least and she busied herself looking at the colonial marines' logo. When she asked about the logo he explained what it stood for, but she thought he was hiding something. His description of it being a 'group of loyal people that serve the people' was only a half truth and she sensed that, but she didn't push it. And after a while they fell asleep.

[Morning]

Fluttershy awoke with a small yawn and she stretched and went downstairs to see if her friends were awake. When she went into the room she noticed two things, one she had forgotten to provide an extra bed and two the human seemed to be using Celestia's mane as a blanket.

"Princess Celestia" said fluttershy.

"mmmmmmghhhhff..."

"Princess Celestia" she said a bit louder

"I...um wa?" then Celestia shook her head "sorry for my laziness, it happens every morning." then as Celestia tried to get up she felt something tug her mane and turned her head to see one of the most surprising thing she had ever woken up to. Dwayne in his sleep had wrapped Celestia's mane around himself and was refusing to let go of it. As she pulled slightly he put it between his fingers and buried his face in it.

"Just five more minutes sarge" he moaned burying himself deeper into the soft mane.

Celestia and fluttershy began to laugh.

"Do you want to wake him up" fluttershy asked smiling

"No, let him sleep the poor thing deserves it" then turning to fluttershy "please promise me you will never tell my sister"

"I pinkie promise" said fluttershy going through the motions

just then a knock on the door called fluttershy away and Celestia tried to get the human to wake up but he wouldn't, she remembered him saying that his first sleep after the cryo-freeze would be very deep and long so she took her time, that is until she heard a loud AWWWWWWW- from the assembled group of ponies that entered the room.

"Look how cute he looks" said pinkie bouncing up and down

"I think he likes ya" said applejack grinning

"your majesty you must tell me what you use on your mane" said rarity

Celestia looked at rainbow dash who had an odd look on her face, torn between laughing and frowning. She wondered what this could mean but decided to let it go and think about this later.

"aww- he looks just like spike when he found a cuddly cushion "cooed twilight

"Could one of you help me remove him please" Celestia asked and as she expected rainbow dash was the first to help.

"There we go" said twilight using her magic to lift Dwayne off of Celestia's mane and back onto the bed.

"Should we wake him up?" asked pinkie pie pulling out an air horn.

"No my little ponies let him rest "said Celestia smiling slightly as she looked at him

And the rest of the ponies began talking about nothing in particular when twilight suggested that they use a spell she found to look into other universes, look but not enter.

"Princess Celestia could you help me with this spell" twilight asked

"But of course, and rarity could help too" replied Celestia

"I would love to"

"Great!" said twilight "ok here goes."

as the ponies put their horns together a small window appeared and twilight said "right now we need a little piece of the thing we want to see.. "

"How about… a piece of his hair "said rainbow dash smiling

"Alright but we have one shot before this stops working"

The window changed and they saw a group of humans' clustered together, scanning the area for something. Suddenly one of them yelled and they formed a circle facing outwards, then, slightly blurred by the window, what looked like shadows began moving. the humans opened fire on the shadows and some fell while others tried to reach the humans only to be cut down as the got near. Then the window closed. (this is a darkened view of the trailer for Aliens: Colonial Marines)

"Wow" said twilight

"My student did you see those dark figures?" asked Celestia

"Yeah but they were kinda blurred" she replied

"What was that" said Dwayne who had woken up just as it ended.

"nothing" said applejack her eyes darting back and forth.

"Oh... umm just some magic" said twilight

"ooooooook...so what are we going to do today?" Dwayne asked.

"We could visit zecora" twilight suggested

"Who is that?"

"She's a zebra" said twilight knowingly

"Well let's go" Dwayne said looking at the group.

Later as the group was just about to reach zecora's home twilight pulled him aside

"Just one thing before we go in there... zecora can be a little strange"

"It's ok I can handle weird" smiled Dwayne.

And they knocked on zecora's door.

"Oh hello my dears what brings you here?" she said

"Hi, zecora we have a new friend who wants to meet you" said pinkie

"Oh is it dear applebloom it's been a while since she entered these rooms."

"No.. It's an alien that accidentally came here" said twilight matter of factly

"Well I am eager to see that which eludes me" said zecora

"His name is Dwayne" said twilight as Dwayne stepped from the shadows "he is really nice a-" but she couldn't finish, zecora spotted him and yelled...

"HUMAN!"

"You know..." began applejack

"Get inside my little ponies" said zecora pushing them inside.

"Hi my name is Dwayne, how did you-"

"it will take more than a brew to cure you" said zecora advancing on him

"Whoa, I don't want any trouble" he said backing away

"The evil you have done to us is matched only by the evil you have done to yourselves" said zecora

"Umm... zecora he is friendly" said rainbow dash

"Even if he does eat meat" whispered fluttershy

"No my dears he is bad news and will leave more damage than a simple bruise" said zecora never looking away from him.

"Hey, I didn't do anything" said Dwayne

"so you do not know" said zecora shocked.

Then they all sat in zecora's home as she told the tale that her ancestors once told.

"You know once, before even the rule of discord there were humans" she said none of her rhyming present in her voice "not in equestria of course but in another universe, one we could see into using a mixture of herbs. But what we saw frightened us, to the point that making the brew is banned."

At this the whole group looked at Dwayne

"What did you do?" Celestia asked him

"I don't know what you are talking about!" said Dwayne defensively

"Don't you" said zecora "you and your...you're WARS!" she yelled

"Wars? Which ones?" he asked

"That's my point!" said zecora "you have so many, your kind doesn't understand friendship or love! All you know is to destroy"

"That's called human nature" Dwayne said "it's the idea that its part of our nature is to kill each other... basically, but we are not all bad" he said turning to zecora.

"Wait", said twilight "how come you never told us this?"

"Because if I told you that I am from a race that's nature was to kill others would you still be talking to me now" he said defensively.

"The last person I knew to make the forbidden brew was my father." said zecora "he saw you decimate your own people."

"Things are way more peaceful recently" said Dwayne "there hasn't been an all-out war for about ten years"

"There hasn't been a war here for over a thousand years! And even then it was fought with pie!" yelled zecora "you say you haven't had war in ten as if it is something to be proud of!"

"We aren't evil!" he replied then under his breath "... well not all of us"

"He saved my sisters life, and risked his own" said Celestia "surely this warrants some trust."

"Well it seems you are not like those the stories describe, I will give you a chance because I have never seen the brew myself. Maybe you have changed. Celestia knows I know a lot about not judging a book by its cover." said zecora.

"Great! Just give me a chance and I will show you not all humans are bad."

"very well, but to earn my trust you will need to start right away." she said giving him a small smile

"I won't let you down zecora" he beamed back

Later all the friends gathered to discuss Dwayne's situation. Pinkie volunteered to distract him so they could talk.

"I don't know, he seems really nice" said twilight

"But what if he hurts a pony!" said applejack

"He does seem to have control over his instincts" said fluttershy "I think he has developed enough to control this human nature"

"ah like him too guys but we need to be careful" replied applejack "ah mean... did you see what he did to that ursa, ah haven't seen anything fight like that... it's like he wanted to hurt the mean thing for the sake of hurtin' it!"

"But he did it to save my sister" said Celestia though as soon as she heard about humanities war she had begun to worry especially around this soldier.

"Yes, and though he is a little ... rough around the edges and has no taste in fashion.. he is a gentlecolt" said rarity.

"Yeah, and he is really fun" said rainbow

"Hey where is pinkie?" said twilight

"Throwing Dwayne a party" said rainbow "duh"

"Look, you all saw him this morning. Did he really look like he was going to go crazy? He looked more like a baby." said twilight

"Very well we are agreed, he will be trusted" said Celestia smiling a little.

Meanwhile at sugar cube corner pinkie was force feeding Dwayne cake.

"I don't think I ca- mmmggh" was all he managed before pinkie stuffed another piece of cake in his mouth.

"hey you pinkie promised to eat as much cake as i could, and you still have one wedding cake to go!" she laughed as she stuffed yet more cake into him.

"And what if I break the promise?"

And before he knew what was happening he was on the floor looking at what seemed to be a burning pink demon from hell.

"You. Never. Break a pinkie PROMISE!." yelled pinkie a small fire burning in each eye.

"Ok. Ok please don't hurt me!" he wailed

"Are you going to eat your cake?"

"Yes, yes oh dear god and Jesus yes" sobbed Dwayne

"Okie dokie loki!" she said bouncing up and down.

"Hey pinkie! where are you!" came twilights voice

"Yeah come out" said dash

"In here" yelled Dwayne

"What are you doing in here?" came Celestia's voice

"Oh my apples!" said dash when they came in seeing a crying Dwayne and a smiling pinkie

"oh hey guys! D here challenged me to see who could eat the most cake!" she said smiling

"You do realize he is crying don't you?" asked twilight

"He is... oh my, I am really sorry D I thought you were laughing" pinkie said apologetically

"I...its ok...I think...I think" then he collapsed onto the floor, his leg twitching a little

"Oh no!" said fluttershy taking over "we need to get him outside right now" she said

"Why?" asked dash

"Believe me, I have seen this before" said fluttershy knowingly as the group pushed Dwayne outside

"Ok, now stand back" she said as they laid him in a field

"why? Asked rarity just as Dwayne awoke and began to convulsively throw up. All he could manage to say between each horrible occurrence was 'mommy'

"Oh my goodness!" said rarity turning away

Celestia looked at fluttershy and said "how did you know this would happen?"

"oh, angel eats a lot sometimes and he overdoes it.' she replied

"Please kill me" said Dwayne but they all ignored him.

"Right I think we should move him somewhere more appropriate" said Celestia "maybe somewhere he could rest, he told me he needed as much rest as possible"

"hey, nothing more comfortable than a cloud right!" said dash striking a pose

"Good idea rainbow", smiled applejack "nothin' softer than a cloud."

"Ok, I can cast the spell to let him walk on clouds and you can take him to rest" said twilight her horn glowing

Later on in the afternoon all the other friends had gone home and dash was leading Celestia to her home a groaning soldier on her back

"How much further must I heft this baggage" called Celestia not wanting to complain but he was just as tall as her and he was heavy, especially in that armor of his.

"We're here!" yelled dash flying to a cloud house with rainbow waterfalls.

Dwayne opened an eye and looked at the house he blinked and thought he was dreaming until he heard Celestia whisper into his ear "we have arrived"

"ok" he said jumping off onto the cloud then realizing what he had just done screamed and grabbed the rainbow pony around the neck and closed his eyes shaking. All Celestia and dash could do was laugh

"ok man, that ain't funny man" he said indignantly

"Yeah, yeah scaredy cat" said dash

"Could we go inside, this is starting to freak me out." said Dwayne.

"Ok, are you going to let go of me though?" asked dash

"Ummm, later" he said still holding onto her as he stood

"Alright then let's go inside" said princess Celestia. And the happy group entered the building.

Dwayne was in a mild state of shock. This house was beautiful; there were rainbow waterfalls just outside the windows.

"Ok so what do we do now" said rainbow

"Well I need to clean my gear" said Dwayne sitting on a couch/cloud and began removing his gear. he began to place them on a table as dash said "right i am going to pick up some pizza, this day has made me hungry" she said "what do you guys want?"

"I will have a hey and daisy pizza with extra cheese" said the princess

"Wow you guys have PIZZA!" said Dwayne with the look of a happy foal on his birthday.

"yup" said dash giggling a little

"Hmmm, so I guess you don't do a meat lovers do ya'" he said brow furrowed in concentration while Celestia and dash exchanged disgusted looks.

"Ok how about a simple cheese pizza" he said

"K, be back in a little while" dash said as she flew out of the house. Celestia looked at Dwayne as he put all his weapons and equipment on a table and began to sort through it all.

"Crap, gotta restock on sonic electronic ball breakers" he muttered to himself as he worked through his pulse rifle.

"Dwayne, what does 'sonic electronic ball breaker' mean?" asked Celestia

"Ummm" said Dwayne blushing "well it's a nick name... it's a bomb the uses sound to propel shrapnel and slice through things"

"But why call it a 'ball breaker?"

"Well...ummm...crap..." he said as Celestia giggled but continued to press the question.

"It's rude, I couldn't tell you" he finally said

Celestia raised an eyebrow and smiled before bending down to whisper something in his ear. Dwayne's eyes went wide and he looked at Celestia who was still grinning a naughty smile at him "yeah... that's exactly what it means"

"Well could you please explain the rest of this to me" she said gesturing at the rest of the equipment. She moved and sat down next to Dwayne. she couldn't help but feel a little affection to the brave soldier, she found his hesitant ways around her to be cute. Just then dash returned with three pizzas on her back. "Delivery! That will be five bits" then she looked at the two friends sitting next to each other. She didn't know why she was feeling jealous but she gritted her teeth and put on her best smile.

"hey dash, oh man that smells great!" said Dwayne

"Yeah, here you go" said dash putting the pizzas in front of them and sitting on Dwayne's left. Dwayne wasn't sure but he swore that dashes wing stroked his back. then both she and Celestia decided to move closer, putting him in an uncomfortable position

"OOOOOK" he said "why don't we sit outside and watch the sunset"

"Ok dash lets go " said Dwayne as he picked up his and Celestia's pizzas

"Right behind ya Dwayne!" she said happily trotting after him.

Just outside the door Celestia summoned some glasses of cold water and they sat watching the sun go down**.**

"Luna is doing an exceptional job, tonight. I might just enjoy this 'vacation' "said Celestia

"hey, tomorrow I could show you how some of my stuff works" said Dwayne as he laid down, his stomach full"

"That would be great!" said rainbow resting her head on his chest plate. And after a while she dozed off. Celestia simply grinned at the sight thinking how adorable it was. She sat next to Dwayne and they talked Celestia particularly interested in his personal life.

It was getting late when Celestia suggested they go inside. Dash woke with a start when Dwayne moved and blushed when she realized that she had fallen asleep on his chest. Dash directed Celestia to her room and Dwayne to his. She stopped to say goodnight when she noticed that he was shivering

"Are you cold" she asked

"Yeah, I guess it's just being up this high" he replied

"Well here" she said draping her wing around him

"gee... thanks" he said moving closer to her for warmth. And soon they both fell asleep, resting on dashes bed.

-Next morning-

Celestia awoke with a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Today was the day Dwayne would tell them about his past and where he came from, she could feel it. Celestia got up and walked to the mirror in dashes guest room, her mane was perfect yet she still seemed to fuss over it.

"Princess!" a yell came from below

"I'm coming!" she replied as she walked to the door.

Downstairs rainbow watched Dwayne with her jaw hanging open. He was cooking pancakes at a lightening pace, occasionally stopping to take the tea off of the stove and to squeeze some fresh juice into three cups. Then he set the food down on the table and stood admiring his work.

"oh my... this looks delicious" said Celestia as she entered the kitchen.

"i hope you like it" said Dwayne "the marines love it"

as they sat and ate Celestia asked the one question that had been on her mind for a while "Dwayne... Why won't you tell us about your race?" he stopped eating and looked down at the table.

"Celestia" he said "there is something you have to understand about humans. We are a cruel and violent race; though we are capable of great kindness we have always been better at destruction. All we create we use to destroy" Dwayne said sadly

"Please Dwayne" said Celestia "you don't have to say anything. I understand"

"do you" he said a dark look in his eyes "do you really, you have no war, no pain only love...whereas the death toll in the last war was over three billion people" Celestia and dashes eyes began to water at this point.

"T-t-three billion?!" said dash

"yeah, and nearly all those were civilians... we have had worse, the colonial wars, seven billion people died" he yelled with tears in his eyes "I'm sorry princess but you don't understand. Not until you have held a bleeding friend while he asked for his mother, knowing that he would never see her again. Or until you kill another... feel his blood on your hands." he said breaking down into tears.

"Hush now Dwayne" said Celestia as she and dash hugged him "you're here, and I promise you will be loved"

"yeah!" said dash resting on his lap "all your friends love you"

"Thank you" said Dwayne "it's just so terrible"

"Hush now" said Celestia as Dwayne shed some tears into her coat. She couldn't help but feel slightly frightened of these 'humans' their passion is too outmatched by their hate.

"Okay, I'm fine just give me a moment" he said standing up and looking around "normally I don't break down, but this world seems to be changing me."

"Well I think I know how to liven our spirits" said Dwayne smiling

"How?" asked rainbow dash

"Oh you'll see" he replied with a grin

"Celestia could you teleport us to my ship"

"of course" she said smiling as a flash of white light enveloped them. Next thing they knew they were in the ship.

"Right" said Dwayne smiling "let's go"

And they began walking through the Sulaco's damaged corridors; Dwayne was looking for the entertainment room

"Aha! Here it is!" he said

"What is this?" asked dash

"This... this is the entertainment room" he said in an overly dramatic voice, puffing out his chest causing Celestia and dash to giggle.

"Yes, but what does it do?" asked Celestia "it's just a couch and a black wall"

"Oh really" said Dwayne and he pushed a button. The wall lit up and a menu popped up.

"Wow" was all dash managed

"Yeah, the marines get a great entertainment system" said Dwayne

"Well then, what does this do?" asked Celestia.


	5. Movement!

Chapter 5 "movement"

As they group watched some films and listened to some music something stirred a few decks below, something dark. A lone alien warrior slipped from a vent and stood in a corridor. It was distraught; its queen had grabbed it from its host's chest just before the explosion on LV-426, and brought it with her aboard the Sulaco. In the seventeen weeks it had to mature it had wondered the ship aimlessly with no hive to communicate with and no queen to care for, it was useless. The only thing it had done was kill a bunch of human that had tried to put it in a cage with a big 'W' on the front. But now it had felt the ship start to move and finally crash on a desolate planet. So it moved around until it heard laughter and it dropped into a silent crawl moving, closing in on its targets.

Dwayne sat next to Celestia and Dash as they laughed at the comedy they were watching.

"Oh man that was fun!" said Dwayne wiping a tear from his eye

"Yeah that was great" said dash

"Maybe we could watch another" said Celestia

"Alright, I don't see anything wrong with that." Replied Dwayne smiling at Celestia.

Princess Celestia couldn't help but feel giddy because of his gaze.

"Ok let's-"started Dwayne as he was cut off by a shrill 'bleeping' noise.

"What's that" asked dash looking around

"No it can't be" said Dwayne holding up a device

"What" asked Celestia

"Girls… there's something moving and it ain't us" he said in a nervous tone

"What?!" asked dash looking slightly frightened

"Seven meters" said Dwayne as he looked to the door, he felt stupid… he had left his rifle outside "crap" was all he could manage while bringing up his shotgun.

A black creature had stepped out into the doorway. Seeing it made Dwayne fell strange, some of hicks and Ripley's memories flooded into his mind. And he had a sudden inclination to kill it.

"Girls… get behind me" he said, the alien crouched into a combat position and hissed at him.

Celestia looked at the creature and then at dash, she was shaking in fear as they got behind Dwayne.

The creature hissed and leapt at him, he fired his shotgun sporadically not aiming, completely lost in his own rage.

"Come on you fucker, I don't got all day, come on!" yelled Dwayne as one of his shots hit the aliens tail. It stopped and fell to the floor writhing about. Dwayne was about to fire again when it got up and sprayed him with its tail, the acid hit his halogen light and the top of his left arm.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHH" he screamed clutching the burn, he quickly scanned for the alien but it was gone…. It had probably realized that a frontal assault wouldn't work, and was probably finding another way to get in behind them. "Come on let's GO!" he yelled grabbing dash and pulling her to the door. Celestia quickly followed scared and confused out of her mind.

As they ran through the door Dwayne grabbed his adapted flamethrower and pulse rifle and began to lead they scared ponies through the corridors occasionally firing a burst at anything black and shiny. When they finally saw the airlock it was closed and had black secreted resin on it.

"Now what!" said Celestia.

"Move it man! Get ready to fly" Dwayne said pointing his gun at the door and pumping a grenade into the chamber….. 'BOOM! Ka-chunk' was all they heard as the door was blown outwards.

"Go! Fly" he said as both dash and Celestia leapt out of the ship and hovered close by so Dwayne could hop onto their backs.

Dash was ready to fly Dwayne down so that they could get away, actually come to think about it they could have just teleported with the princesses help but Dwayne said something about containment. Then she saw it the black horror running behind Dwayne, but before she could say anything it hit him and they both fell out of the airlock and down to the ground.

Dwayne was about to jump when he heard a noise behind him, he turned just in time to use his pulse rifle to block its melee but it held on to it as they fell down two stories, a fall that would have severed his spine had he not been wearing his body armor. When they hit the ground the alien flew off of him only to jump back before he could get up.

It hissed and tried to hit him with its tail but he moved his head just in time, then it used its second mouth to try to blow a hole in his head, but before it could a golden aura surrounded it and a flask of rainbow color slammed into its side sending it careering off of him and then the aura surrounded it again and sent it back though the open door into the ship.

"COMPUTER SEAL ALL EXTERNAL ACCESS PORTS!" he screamed and all the external doors closed, all damaged doors were replaced with an emergency shutter the effectively sealed the ship from all external contact. "Well…. That was fun." The two ponies looked at him before a flash of white light transported them to the throne room.

"Oh I am soo much trouble" mumbled Dwayne looking at Celestia who had a look in her eye that would kill a xeno at a hundred paces. "OK I can explain…" he began but Celestia cut him off, to his surprise she was tearing up. "Celestia-" but she cut him off again hugging him tight.

"Oh Dwayne are you alright, you were hurt! Here let me see." She said lifting his arm and examining the acid burn before conjuring a bandage out of thin air. "Dwayne what was that" she said quietly

"it- it was a xenomorph" he said remembering all of Hick's and Ripley's memories and explained everything, from the beginning to the end.

When he was done the two ponies were crying and cowering away from him.

It was Dwayne's turn to feel horrible "I'm so sorry…. I brought this here"

"No" said dash "it's not your fault"

"Rainbow dash is right, it's not your fault."

"Well" he said his voice cold "my fault or not I'm going to end it but I need help from a certain purple pony"

"Excellent" said Celestia smiling "now let us return to the house, I think twilight will be getting nervous." Then Dwayne, Celestia and Rainbow Dash shone with a bright white light and disappeared.

The group appeared in twilight's library much to the surprise of twilight, applejack, fluttershy, rarity, pinkie and spike.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA" yelled the group as twilight ran up to nuzzle her.

"What happened?" whispered fluttershy.

"Yes and what did you do to your arm!" said rarity looking at Dwayne who still had some smoke rising off of his armor. He realized that his halogen light was ruined so he simply tore it off and threw it into a bin.

"My little ponies" said Celestia in her most motherly tone "please, we need some rest"

"Oh of course" said twilight quickly "I have a spare room here…. "

"Oh great, now… twilight I need you to do the same spell you did before and bring me some…. Friends." He said with a small smile.

"umm Dwayne" twilight said with an unsure look on her face "I told you that if I could bring people here then I can't send them back, I don't know how and they might…die" she said that very quietly

"I know... but they will understand, they are colonial marines it's their job to be screwed."

And with some all-round explaining she left to practice, Dwayne went to set up a perimeter around the Sulaco. The only parts of the ship that were cleared were the motor pool and the armory because of the hole he cut to get out, so the computer had sealed the blast door on the inside instead, he had no shortage of weapons and supplies. When they came back the group went about preparing themselves for the night.

About ten minutes later Celestia had decided to take a nap but she couldn't sleep… an alien had come to her planet and if all Dwayne had said was true then it could kill everything she knew. So she got up and decided to walk around. She was walking to twilight's room when she heard some profanities being uttered; she only knew one person that swore like that… so she opened the door and saw a naked Dwayne stumbling around the bathroom clutching his head "stupid mother- damn bar." She said his eyes closed in pain, not noticing the princess peering around the door at him. Her face was red hot as she looked at him naked for the first time, her wings had sprung out to the sides. Then she heard a noise behind her she quickly turned in time to see a pink blur in front of her.

"Hey princess what are you looking at?" said pinkie pie bouncing up and down

"Oh- ummm- nothing" she said moving to block the door. But it was useless because next thing she knew pinkie was hanging off of the ceiling looking into the bathroom. 'I don't even want to know why….. But how?' she thought.

Pinkie had stuck her head around the door "so what's go- ooooooh" she said.

"Oh no you don't" thought Celestia as she brought pinkie down.

"aaaaaawwww… come on princess I want to see it again, it makes me feel fuzzy." pinkie said not understanding the situation in the slightest.

"Come on" said Celestia holding pinkie in her magic… upside-down and taking her to twilights room where the girls were all getting ready for a slumber party. When they noticed their ruler carrying pinkie they all glanced at each other.

"Pinkie….what did you do?" said rarity in an exasperated tone.

"Nothing I just saw Dwayne getting out of the shower!" she replied

"Oh my!" said fluttershy

"Figures…" said dash face-hoofing

"What?" said pinkie looking at the ponies incredulous faces.

"O-k…. Let's never speak of this again" said Celestia

"Agreed!" said everypony in the room

"Whoopee-fucking-do!" muttered Dwayne as he held his head. "that's the last time I take a shower here, next time I'm going to walk all the way back to the Sulaco if I have to." He left the bathroom, got dressed and walked to his room and lay on the bed.

"D-Dwayne" came a voice by the door

"Hmmm…" he said sitting up, there stood Celestia looking nervous "oh hey princess are you ok?"

"Ummm -I - I- one moment please" then she fled out of the door.

"Well thanks for dropping in I guess…" he said and was about to flop back down when he heard hushed voices and Dwayne being Dwayne just had to go and find out what was going on. As he sneaked out of the room he heard voices coming from Twilight's room.

"Oh come on princess you have to do it!" came pinkies voice

"She's right princess, yer gonna have to do it, it's the rules." Said Applejack.

Then they began talking in even more hushed voices, giggling occasionally "what are you talking about" Dwayne said to himself as he crept to the door. Looking inside he saw all the girls and the princess in a circle playing spin the bottle.

"Oh shit" he said to himself "better get outa here before something I'm going to regret happens." As he was walking away he heard the voices raise slightly then twilight said "ok then dash if you're so confident you kiss him!"

"Fuck" said Dwayne as he began to run meeting spike on the way.

"Hey what are you doing?" he asked

"No time" replied Dwayne going to the top floor and hoping they didn't find him. But that hope evaporated when he head spike say "oh he ran upstairs."

"Now what the fuck am I supposed to do, I'm in some real pretty shit now man." He said to no one in particular. Then the door flew open and there they all stood blushing slightly when dash and the princess were pushed forward.

"well Dwayne, I assume since you so valiantly tried to escape I assume to know what is about to happen." Said the princess

"Ok" he said raising his arms " I am sure we can settle this like responsible, intelligent…"

CRASH!

The window blew outwards, shards flying in every direction and in the middle Dwayne flew out arms raised over his face as he began to plummet to the ground. When he landed a 'crack!' was heard from his right knee. "Damn it!" he muttered as he limped/ran into the night. He had pulled his ligament.

"IS HE CRAZY!" yelled rainbow dash looking out of the broken window with the rest of the girls

"Quickly girls let's find him before he scares somepony to death!" said rarity as they ran out of the room.

"Who would've thought he would take it that seriously…." Twilight said as they looked around town for him.

"Yeah" said Celestia smiling a little "but you have to admit it was sort of funny."

"Yeah it was" said dash smirking "but we still owe him a little smooch."

Dwayne was running and smiling to himself at the same time, he knew his leg was hurt but he thought nothing of it, it hurt but it was nothing he couldn't handle. As he hobbled he noticed a tree house in an apple tree. It was beautiful far better than his room at Gateway station. He went into it and found a few pillows. "Outstanding, now all I need is a deck of cards." He said as he lay down on the pillows falling asleep soon after.

"WHERE. IS. HE!" Rainbow Dash said as she face-hooved repeatedly.

"Don't worry dash he is a soldier, he can last one night in Ponyville" Fluttershy said as she walked over and patted her on the back.

"Well I think we should go and get some sleep. This is supposed to be my 'vacation' after all" said Celestia rubbing her eyes.

"I agree, this is starting to make bags appear under my eyes" Rarity complained

"Fine, let's go get some sleep" said Twilight "he can handle himself."

"So…..party anyone?" asked Pinkie

"NO" came the unanimous reply

"ok every pony, lets get some shuteye I got lots a applebuckin' to do tomorrow" Applejack said prompting the group to go back to the library.

'Oh I hope Dwayne isn't cold' said Celestia as she shivered walked besides twilight. Luna had made this night colder than most, must be the weariness of dealing with all that boring chanterlot paperwork. "Please be okay".

Cold didn't define what Dwayne was feeling. It wasn't cold as in 'you're going to freeze to death' it was cold as in you can't feel your body anymore cold. His teeth were chattering as he imagined being anywhere more comfortable than here. On the top of his mental list was cuddling up to Celestia the other day, though he wouldn't admit it she was really warm and soft. Second came his bed at gateway and third was his stasis pod. "Oh man… I never thought I would actually want to sleep in my stasis pod." He curled up in a corner and finally fell asleep.

-Next morning-

Dwayne awoke groggily with sleep in his eyes, he tried to sit up but he felt a weight on his chest. "urgh, wha- who?" he said as he rubbed his eyes. Only after about thirty seconds of rubbing did he stop to notice that there were a pair of orange eyes a few inches from his face. "Oh hell…" he said

"WOW what are you?" came a voice that sounded like applejack

"I'm just a human passing through." He said pushing the little filly off of him and standing up. He looked down at them and smiled, there were three of them one orange and purple Pegasus, one white unicorn with a pink and purple mane and tail and finally the one that was standing on him, a yellow earth pony with red hair and orange eyes and a big bow in her hair.

"Are you alright mister?" asked the little white unicorn

"s-so c-cute" was all he managed and they all blushed making them even more cute.

"Well what's your name?" asked the orange one. He looked at her as saw she was wearing his helmet cocked to one side….'Cuteness overload'

"Dwayne Ripley" he said

"Well that's a funny name." said the yellow on  
"Applebloom that's rude!" said the white unicorn stepping forward "my name is Sweetiebelle and this is Scootaloo and Applebloom." She said pointing

"Oh ah am really sorry mister ah didn't mean to insult yer name like that." She said with a heavy southern accent.

"You sound like Applejack, are you related?" he asked grabbing

"Eeyup she's my sister."

"Right" said Dwayne "well I better get back now. I just hope they've had time to cool off."

And the group made their way to the library, the girls talking of nothing but cutie-marks and how to get them. Dwayne even had to explain that the heart on his armor wasn't his cutie-mark and that humans didn't get any.

"And that's why humans can't get cutie marks." Dwayne finished after half an hour of explaining.

"Ah think ah get it now" said Applebloom.

Dwayne smiled as they kept walking towards the library but his good mood faltered when he saw a royal carriage outside the building.

"Oh no" he said "girls you should go home"

"Ok, bye Dwayne! Come to our tree house whenever if you want to hang out." The three yelled as they scampered off. As he watched them go he heads a yell from the library "DWAYNE! GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

"I always knew that a woman would kill me" he said to himself "well she's a pony but… hell it's female"

"DWYANE NOW!" came Celestia's voice as he turned and walked into the library and was greeted by the eyes if all his friends and the two princesses.

"So how you doing" he said with an attempt at humor

"tell me Dwayne do you think this is funny" said twilight walking towards him with a smile that sent chills down his spine "do you know what we went through hmmm, worrying if you had frozen or been attacked by some freaky alien thing!"

Dwayne knew she was getting angry and he looked to the rest of the group for some support but all he saw was a look of glee at his the punishment he was about to receive, even fluttershy had a small sinister smile on her face.

"O-k…" said Dwayne backing against a shelf "I am very scared now…..what's your plan"

It was Celestia's turn to talk as she smiled "well Dwayne since you insist on running away and making us worry we decided to punish you as I would a naughty student…"

"You don't mean" he said narrowing his eyes

"Oh we do" said dash as Luna summoned a blackboard and some chalk.

"No friggin' way" he said a look of horror on his face "we got a alien infestation and you guy seriously want to punish me!"

"You must write down 'I promise never to scare my friends ever again' one hundred times" said Celestia

"and my sister has told me about this 'xenomorph' and you and I know that its trapped in your ship for a while so you have to do what we order you to do."

"What about-"he began

"Oh I can do it but we just have to wait until they are in the same place or else it would take forever." Said twilight

"So you had better start writing." said luna.


	6. A personal friend of mine

Chapter 6 "a personal friend of mine"

"I promise never to scare my friends ever again….. I promise never to scare my friends ever again.." that was all Dwayne had been able to think see and hear over the last two hours. Luna had already left and he was hoping for anything, something to let him stop.

"Alright Dwayne that's enough" Celestia said reluctantly "twilight says it's time to bring you friends here."

"Great, now where should we do it?" he asked.

"I think we should do it at the palace, there is lots of space and if one of you friends causes any trouble then we have the royal guard to help." She replied as the group gathered outside the library.

"Ok great" twilight said "let's go!" and with that they teleported to the palace and walked to the throne room where Luna greeted them.

"TIA" she yelled when she saw them "oh, oh I have informed all the ponies about the humans and they understand."

"Excellent" said Celestia as they gave twilight some room as her horn began to glow. It steadily got brighter before a bubble separated itself from twilight and began to move towards the wall and then to the ponies surprise through a window. They all ran up to the windows to watch it, it was moving slowly away from them into the sky before finally stopping and opening.

"What now" whispered Fluttershy, but just as she said that the ponies heard angry, blaring music coming from the bubble.

"Oh yeah rock on!" said dash bobbing her head but Dwayne had the same look as fluttershy now .

"Dwayne my dear what's wrong?" looking at him worrying

"Yeah you plum look like you saw a ghost" applejack said as the ponies turned to look at him.

"There is only one time the sarge allows music while on duty" his face white "when we are in a drop ship."

And as if on cue a drop ship appeared through the bubble, a trail of smoke left in the wake of one of its engines with loud music blaring from the speakers.

"Ooooooo…. A dragon" said pinkie looking at it.

"No I don't think so" said Luna then they saw it turn towards them.

"Is it…" said twilight

"RUN!" yelled Dwayne as he grabbed fluttershy under his arm and running to the door but it wouldn't budge "GET ON THE GODDANM DOOR!" he yelled as the ponies began to push and shove.

"Too late!" yelled applejack as they turned and saw the drop ship enter the palace grounds

"Oh man this ain't happening" Dwayne said as he saw the drop ship hit the trees on the outside. He grabbed all the ponies and held them tight closing his eyes.

The drop ship careered into the far wall, the sound of tearing metal grinding on rock could be heard all over chanterlot, it hit the thrones and crushed them and it continued scraping along until it finally came to rest a few feet away from the cowering huddle of ponies.

They stared at it before they heard a voice from the inside "OK WHAT THE FUCK!".

"Yep those are my marines" Dwayne simply said walking towards a tear in the side.

"Dwayne?! Is that you!" came a female voice

"Yep it's me." He said with a smile on his face

"h-how are we here" came the same voice

"Well I guess I brought you here" he replied

"could you come here please" the voice sweetly requested and as soon as Dwayne disappeared inside they heard a loud 'thud' and he flew out again followed by what the ponies could only assume was a female human. "Son of a bitch" she said clutching her hand

"Oww, what was that for?"

"For wrecking my bird asshole" then she pulled him up and hugged him "we thought you were dead"

"Is that Dwayne?" came James's voice

"Yeah" said Jenna

"Oh man I thought you were dead!" he said and hugged him making a lot of clattering noises as their armor hit the other. "Oh it's good to see ya" as the rest of his squad exited all looking happy to see him again, all except Damien who looked at the ponies with cold eyes.

"It's great to see you guys" Dwayne said smiling

"Boy you got some explaining to do" said the sarge looking at the ponies. But before Dwayne could begin a group of royal guards led by shining armor blew through the door.

"YOU!" he bellowed "I knew you were trouble!"

"Captain I-"began the princess but he was still ranting at the humans who had bemused looks on their faces.

"-and another thing you think you can steal the princesses heart well-"and he went on and on and on before he was finally silenced by Emily squealing, running up to him and grabbing his cheeks.

"Oh you are just soo cute I could eat you up, yes I could…." She began but John grabbed her and began to pull her back.

"Way to make first contact" he muttered when he reached the rest of the squad. The girls were giggling and the guards were smirking, shining armor blushed and looked down "sorry about that, I didn't mean it." He muttered

"Yes now" the lieutenant said "you were saying"

"well-" and Dwayne began to tell the whole story from beginning to end including the memories from Ripley and hicks, the only one who didn't look like his mind had just blown was Damien but when Dwayne mentioned xenomorphs he perked up.

"Xenomorphs where?" he said

"In the Sulaco's wreckage, why" Dwayne replied

"Well we need to bring it back."

The entire squad looked at him in shock "WHAT!" was their unanimous response

"You are way out of line soldier" said the sarge "if what has told us is true then what could we hope to gain? And anyway those things killed the entire crew of the Sulaco-"

"Oh them, they are just a bunch of marines who cares, and think of what the company could do with that."

"What do you mean?" asked Penelope "just marines! They are family!"

"I have my orders so we have to do this." He said turning

"What do you mean, orders from who?" asked the lieutenant

"Mr. Weyland of course."

"What?" said Dwayne, without realizing it the group had separated into two separate groups with Damien on one side and the rest of the squad on the other.

"Well are you going to help me or not?"

"Fuck no" yelled James "we are going to kill it before any of these little ponies get hurt!"

"Well then you are no longer of use to me, after all… all humans are dispensable" and with that he drew his pulse rifle and aimed it at the lieutenant, the entire squad and the guards drew their weapons and pointed them at him.

"You didn't honestly think you could escape did you" Celestia said coldly

"You know…. I know I can't" he said smiling evilly

"ENOUGH!" the lieutenant yelled. "Private Ripley! Apprehend that man!"

As Dwayne moved forward Damien smiled and grabbed his throat in an inhuman grip. The rest of the squad all pointed their guns at him.

BANG! a single shot rang out, and hit Damien in the head…. Then he threw Dwayne into the marines knocking them down. The rest of the group looked at him with fear in their eyes.

"He's a fucking syntho! Dwayne yelled "a synthetic! A friggin' combat drone"

"Yes, the first of my kind…" he said a trickle of white fluid dripping out of the hole in his head and under it a shiny titanium endoskeleton glinted. "the company got tired of having the marines constantly getting in the way with their 'moral values' so they created me to kill you if you got in the way! But I have better things to do" as he began to walk away he was encased in a golden aura. "Ha-ha I thought something like this would happen but I think I have a distraction" he said turning with his pistol raised and pointed at Penelope or more specifically her flamethrower and fired.

There was a brief moment where nothing happened but to the pony's and marines horror a loud whoosh of fire encased Penelope and the sarge. Celestia could only watch in horror as the two people who had defended her were encased in fire, and then they began to scream, horrible, horrible screams that filled the silence. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH -OH!" yelled the sarge as to fling his arms about trying in vain to put out the flames. When he failed, to Celestia's horror he ran to a window and threw himself out of it, killing himself. His screams faded into nothing as he fell. Penelope suffered a different fate, her shrill screams echoed through the castle as she rolled on the floor trying to snuff the flames. Celestia conjured a bucket of water and poured it over her putting her out, but when the steam cleared what she saw was terrifying and even made applejack and rarity throw up. She was unrecognizable, burnt, red, black and raw, her hair was gone in most places and she could only moan her pain before Dwayne quickly walked up to her and whispered in her ear. When he finally got up she whispered a raspy "t-thank y-you". Celestia looked at Dwayne when he rose, but when he looked at her she wished he hadn't, his eyes were burning with sorrow and anger. She couldn't even brood on what he had asked her before he drew his pistol and shot her in the heart. She had whished for death.

Dwayne turned to the rest of the squad, Damien had disappeared "let's find the bodies and give them a proper burial" he said downcast. When none of the soldiers moved he said again, more forcefully "MOVE." As they left he saw john start to cry "I asked her to marry me…." He said over and over making all the ponies cry, but the worst came when he knelt beside her and touched her hand where the ponies saw the golden glint of a wedding ring "she said yes…." He mumbled as Dwayne put his arm around him. Suddenly, without warning he got up and screamed "DAIMIEN! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME I WANT YOU TO KNOW…. WHEN I FIND YOU I WILL PULL YOU APART CIRCUIT BY CIRCUIT! DOES THAT COMPUTE!" then he collapsed to the ground crying.

Dwayne went over to the ponies "sorry you had to see that, I can't help him. Just let him be" and he left to find the sarge's body with the rest of the marines.

As john wept he felt something soft envelop him. When he looked up he saw a yellow Pegasus hugging him "Sssh- its ok let it out I'm here" he thanked her quietly and sobbed into her coat.

While fluttershy comforted john the rest of the ponies turned to each other, the guards and shining armor had left to chase after that monster. "Princess what do we do now?" asked twilight as they began to comfort each other.

The princess looked at her student then at her sister who was looking back at her with sullen eyes then to the rest of the ponies who were in various staged of comforting each other. "we give them a decent burial and try to help them as much as we can."

With that they put on determined faces and nodded. Just as Dwayne and James entered and walked over to the crashed drop ship. "hugggh" Dwayne said pulling on a flat part of the door "no its jammed we can't reach the APC without a welder."

"Here let me try my key" said James as he brought up his smart-gun and pointed at the wreckage "you girls might want to cover your ears" he said with a small smile. As his gun came to life all they could hear was the bangs it made and the light that illuminated James's smile. When he finally stopped there was an arch of holes in the side of the drop ship, he walked up and kicked it in, it made a weak whining noise as it gave and fell revealing the heavily damaged APC.

"Well that's a switch" said Dwayne looking at the destroyed APC "well come of we need to set up a perimeter, as soon as Damien realizes that the computer is in lockdown he will need to come find me to open it, so grab anything motion trackers, grenades, anything."

"Yes sir" replied James

"Corporal you don't need to call me sir, you outrank me." Dwayne replied

"Dwayne with all due respect, with your experience, I think the whole squad agrees that you should take charge."

"James….thanks" he said.

He smiled "don't mention it." And he got back to looking for gear.

Dwayne turned and saw the ponies talking to each other so he walked over and decided to talk to them.

"Hello girls" he said

"DWAYNE!" they screamed and hugged him all at once.

"Whoa, whoa hey calm down." And as disentangled himself from the ponies he moved his head close to Celestia's and whispered "show me to your room." She gasped and her wings twitched, Dwayne smiled when he saw this and continued "he might be coming back so I need a place to hold up." Her face changed from one of shock and lust to one of worry.

"Of course this way" she said leading the group to her rooms. When they finally reached them the humans could only gawk at the size and beauty of it, it had a massive fireplace and a bed that could only be described as empire size.

"Oh man" Jenna said "I doubt even the buffs at Weyland-Yutani get a room this nice."

"Alright" Dwayne said turning to the marines "get whatever you can from James; he is down with the APC."

"Affirmative" they replied and left.

"Right then…." He said turning to the ponies "I would suggest that you stay here with me, it's safe…. Well as safe as possible when you have an alien infestation."

"well then" said Celestia "since it is my room I think I have the right to know what you will be doing in terms of security." Looking at the tables, crates, guns and knives the marines were bringing in.

The lieutenant walked up to Dwayne and handed him a data pad that listed the supplies they could salvage.

supply roster

Accessing… … …

X10 pulse rifles {1 mag each}

X1 box M40 grenades

X2 flamethrowers

X8 robot sentries

X2 smart-guns

X2 motion trackers

X9 combat knives

… … … …

end roster

"Excellent!" Dwayne said happily "let's start setting up the robot sentries and Celestia you can start telling the guards to fortify this area. She smiled and said "it's already been done"

"Ok now then…. Do you want to see the true level of badass humans can be?" he said with a smile opening eight small laptops.

About twenty minutes later the squad had set up the robot sentries in key junctions and doorways.

"right then" Dwayne said to his squad "let's see what we can see."

The ponies were looking at the setup with great interest; the tables had been set up in one corner of the room where the marines had laid out their selection of weapons and to Dwayne who had explained the concept of a laptop to twilight so many times that the other ponies were beginning to doze off. But Dwayne got their attention when it was time to test the guns.

"Test it James" he said into the radio.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he yelled and the room was filled with the flashing of the screens as the sentries fired their payload into various chunks of debris.

"So- you create weapons that replace the need for soldiers?!" Luna said when he explained what robot sentries are.

"Sort of" Dwayne said "but people have and always will be the backbone of war." The marines took their posts outside Celestia's room.

"We're ready out here Dwayne!" Emily's happy voice chirped over the radio.

"Roger that." Said Dwayne reclining in his chair

"Umm- e-excuse me" fluttershy whispered from next to Dwayne

"Oh yes what is it fluttershy" he replied

"W-well umm- if you don't mind…" she trailed off hiding behind her mane.

"Darling what she is trying to ask is how you plan to…. Kill that…that monster inside your ship when this is all done."

"Yup we were wonderin' how you plan to put it out of the rodeo fer good" commented applejack.

"Girls there is something you have to understand about Xenomorphs…" he started waiting for twilight to take out her notepad and quill and for dash to stop flying around the room. When everypony was looking at him, including the princesses he began "you can't simply beat the xenomorphs, they are never beaten….. only delayed…unless you cut them off before they have a chance to spread. And look at us, physically we are soft, fleshy and weak whereas every part of a xenomorphs body serves one of two purposes….to kill or to survive, hell you can see it when you look at them, every part is sharp and- we are getting off topic here, but what you need to understand is that humans also have two things to fall back on…intelligence and each other, every victory we have ever had against the xenomorphs was because we outsmarted them and worked together. While they operate solely on instinct and a hive mind we are independent thinkers, that may work for good or bad as you can see, but no matter what happens there are going to be losses. Even our technology, though it helps, won't stop the xenomorphs if they get out." As he finished this small speech he looked at the ponies shocked faces, it was almost funny.

"Thank you for helping us Dwayne." Luna said

"Yes" continued Celestia "when this is over you and your friends will live in peace in equestria."

"Thank you" then rubbing his hands together "alright Q&A time what else do you want to know."

"SIR!" came John's voice over the radio "WE HAVE MOVEMENT! THE GUARDS HAVE SIGHTED A HUMAN ENTERING THE PALACE!"

"Tell the ponies to back off, don't want them to get caught in the crossfire do we." He said over the radio. Then turning to the frightened ponies "its game time."


	7. machine and might

Chapter 7 "machine and might"

"Alright, we have movement approaching A and B sentries" Dwayne said with the ponies crowding around him. Then the screens came to life displaying the ammunition count, temp and status of the guns. "Sentries A and B tracking and firing, single target…. Fuck! He just ain't going down!" Dwayne said receiving a quick slap on the back of his head from Celestia for swearing. Before Dwayne could comment a shrill alarm sounded "A gun down to 10 rounds, 5…. A gun dry, twenty on B, ten, 5…..B gun dry."

Then the radio came to life and Damien's voice came through sounding slightly mechanical "robot sentries….. Very clever Dwayne, just like when you put the ship into lock-down, you know i need you to disengage the security systems. Ha, one round hit my voice box… I sound like an echo."

"What the hell do you want you bastard!" Dwayne replied

"Oh I want you… is your precious princess there…. Tell her that her guards  
make excellent shields." He said, a smirk carrying over in his voice.

"YOU SCUM!" both the princesses yelled.

"Ha-ha glad to see that they missed me. See you soon Ripley." And with that the radio transmission cut off.

"princess- I'm sorry, but we will kill him" Dwayne said

"I know Dwayne" Celestia said with a small smile. Luna however was far less graceful…

"I WILL MAKE HIM PAY FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE, WHEN I HAVE FINISHED WITH HIM HE WILL BEG TO BE SENT TO THE MOON!" she yelled.

"Yo Dwayne" came James's voice

"Yeah" he replied

"Was that umm…Luna."

"Yeah" he said again

"I can tell I like her already!" James said with a laugh

All the ponies were a little worried now; the human's guns didn't stop him and now he was coming faster.

"Alright… he is detouring our other turrets….no, oh no, no, no!"

"What is it?" Rainbow asked.

"He's using the vines on the walls! Get away from the window!" Dwayne said running to the door and opening it. "GO! GO! Everyone get in the corridor!" they all ran out to meet the rest of the marines who were bristling with weapons.

"Come on!" john yelled. As soon as they all got through he closed the door and brought his blowtorch to the lock.

"John get back!" Dwayne said as they all moved backwards, the ponies standing behind the marines. They were looking at the door when a fist shaped dent appeared in the center then another and another until finally a hole broke in the middle "here's Damien!" he said as the door finally gave.

"FUCK YOU TANK!" the lieutenant yelled as the squad opened fire, he simply opened his hands and took it. It chipped off his outer layer of fake flesh leaving only the titanium in some places. When the marines finally stopped shooting he smiled and said "well now that we have established that that won't work why don't you just give me Dwayne and we can end this all right now." And he ran up and punched john (who was closest) in the chest making a dent in his armor and sending him careering into the far wall.

"You" Celestia said her eyes glowing "have made a grave error."

"Yes" Luna said her voice completely emotionless "you have harmed those we have sworn to protect, and for that…." She trailed off as both she and Celestia rose into the air and teleported to either side of Damien and stabbed him with their horns.

"So your horns are hard enough to pierce titanium…. Big-whoop." Damien said but he stopped when he saw their horns glow. "No" was all he said before the magical aura coursed through his body. "Aaaarrgh!" he yelled in a metallic voice as he collapsed.

"Holy shit!" Jenna said looking at Damien as he fell then at the princesses who slowly floated down and stumbled before blacking out and collapsing, Dwayne and Emily caught them and laid them down gently.

"Oh god… what the hell was that" Emily asked.

"no idea" Dwayne said "but it worked" he said looking at the twitching robot in front of him.

"He's alive" James said looking Damien over and pulling out his pistol, he was about to shoot him when John stopped him.

"No…..I want to do this." He said before flipping Damien over and whispering "I promised I would tear you apart…now I'm going to make due on that promise" and to everyone's horror he used his knife to make an incision in his lower back.

"w-what are-" fluttershy began but she stopped when john inserted his hand into his back and began to pull, a few seconds later a ripping sound was heard and in a fountain of white fluid john tore out Damien's synthetic spine. He then held it above his head before throwing it down and stomping on it.

"Oh man…." Dwayne said looking at john, watching as he simply broke down in tears. Fluttershy again went to comfort him.

Then guards appear to say that one of them had been killed, but he had no family to speak of. And that he would be given a hero's burial with the sarge and Penelope.

"Alright" Dwayne said "Emily get Luna to her room, rarity can help you carry her with magic, twilight and i will handle Celestia, the rest of you clean up and take down the sentries and reload A and B if they aren't destroyed." And with that the marines and ponies went about their business. Dwayne started walking with twilight who used magic to carry Celestia back to her room. On the way she would mumble things he couldn't understand, he smiled when he heard his name a couple of times.

"alright lets go help the others clean up." twilight said as she laid the princess down on the bed, turned and left.

"w-wha…. Where am I" she said moving around to face Dwayne "oh… what happened… was it true?"

"Yes" Dwayne said smiling "it's over."

"Please...stay with me" she said as he sat down on the bed. she grabbed him and pulled him down beside her wrapping her hooves around him, he hugged her back and gave her a peck on the cheek "tomorrow we are going bug hunting." He said

"Yes but…. Not now." She said

"Just what I was thinking" he replied and they both fell asleep in each others arms/ hooves.

The next morning Celestia got up feeling very… tired if that was possible, and pushed the soundly sleeping human off of her and walked to the bathroom to comb her mane. When she was done she walked back into the room and saw Dwayne still sleeping. She smiled and walked right up to his ear before yelling in the royal chanterlot voice something she had heard the lieutenant say "GET UP MARINE! THEY AIN'T PAYING US BY THE HOUR LETS GO HEAD 'EM OUT!"

The reaction was instantaneous; Dwayne screamed like a little girl, fell out of bed rolled around for a few seconds trying to get his bearings, found his armor and began to strap it on before he realized what was going on. Celestia was laughing so hard that tears ran down her cheeks.

"Oh ha-ha very funny" he said frowning

"Well…. I couldn't resist and anyway we have to get moving, I can't sit still knowing that there is a creature that could eliminate all life on the planet in our midst." She said sounding very grave.

"Ripley" came the lieutenant's voice over the radio "we're ready …let's go on a bug hunt!"

"I hear that." He said "on my way" then to himself "normally it's the bugs that end up hunting us."

"What was that?" Celestia asked as they made their way to the throne room.

"Nothing" Dwayne replied.

When they entered they saw shining armor and a small group of ponies that were (in human standards) standing in a very sloppy military attention with the rest of the girls.

"My word captain, these guards are very disciplined." Celestia said sounding impressed. Dwayne on the other hand was trying not to laugh at their out of sync movements.

"What's so funny" one of the guards asked grudgingly.

"y-you guys are soo disorganized!" he said laughing

"These are our best troops!" shining said "you can't get more organized than them."

Then they heard the thudding of feet and distant shouts that became clearer as it got closer.

"WHAT ARE YOU!?"

"LEAN MEAN MARINES!"

"WHAT ARE YOU!? COME ON MOVE IT OUT!"

"YES SIR!"

"GET HOT, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, ONE, TWO, THREE!"

Then the door flew open and the marines jogging in perfect sync entered the room.

"Get on the ready line, Marines, get some today! Get on the ready line! Move it out! Move it out, goddammit! Get hot! One, two, three, four! Get out, get out, get out! Move it out, move it out, move it out! Move it out, move it out, move it out! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven! mmhm, absolutely badassess! Let's pack 'em in! Get in there!" yelled the corporal as the marines stood in a perfect line holding their weapons up for his inspection. He grunted, looked at the pony guards whose jaws were hanging open to Dwayne who was standing next to Celestia. He smiled, walked up to Dwayne took a deep breath and screamed into his face "MARINE! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" His yell made everyone in the room jump or in fluttershy's case scream. He grabbed Dwayne by the choler of his armor and dragged him into line.

"Now then marines…. I want you to look at that pony" he said pointing at fluttershy who was trembling behind her friends, they moved and she was forced to stand alone while the humans looked at her. When she was about to cry the lieutenant said "that's what we're fighting for." It took all of the marines discipline not to run up and comfort her, john especially had gotten attached to her, because she had comforted him for the whole night.

"Alright, now which of you would die to protect her?" He asked. All the marines raised their hands without hesitation.

"Yep, I thought so. NOW MOVE IT OUT DOUBLE TIME!" he yelled as the marines moved into position behind the ponies as Luna entered the room.

Dwayne looked at Celestia and nodded, her horn glowed before they were engulfed in a blinding white light.

All the ponies reappeared just outside of the ships wreckage.

"Alright let's get setup" Dwayne said moving to the airlock that led into the hangar and armory and opening it. The humans insisted that they take the lead and clear that area before allowing the ponies to enter. After about an hour of locking doors and sealing exits they had cleared the hanger and the armory, which were connected.

"Alright, you can come in now." Dwayne said to the ponies that entered warily.

"Is it safe?" one of the guards asked

"HA, as safe as possible when you're dealing with xenos!" yelled James.

"Princesses, girls this way" Dwayne said leading the princesses and the girls to the APC which sat next to the drop ship and took them inside where he sat them down around the portable command center in the APC.

"Alright" Dwayne said "now this is the command center, you can watch me and my squad on these" he said gesturing to the screens "your guards will stay here and protect you while we hunt this thing down okay." but before he could turn to leave.

"Dwayne-"Luna said in a choked voice

"Hmm-"he said as all the ponies hugged him

"Please be safe" dash whispered

"I will dash… I promise." He said, and with that he left closing the APC's door behind him. The ponies turned to the selection of screens each of which displayed the helmet cam and the person's vitals. The ponies read the descriptions of each one.

JHONSON. L 09/7786/4/67543/6 LEU -M [LAURANCE]

pule rifle/ pistol

KEYES. J 09/575423/65432/4 CORP -M [JAMES]

smart-gun/ pistol

RIPLEY. D 09/?/?/? PVT -M [DWAYNE]

modified weapon dubbed 'Ripley's flamethrower'/ shotgun

MARICHEQ. J.J 09/66556/645864/3 PVT -M [JOHN.J]

pulse rifle/ pistol

HOWARD. E 09/6664566/86576/ PVT -F [EMILY]

pulse rifle/ modified weapon dubbed 'pink party splosion'

ROSE. J 09/54574/3564/234 PIL -F [JENNA]

Smart-gun/ flamethrower

"Wow talk about overkill" muttered dash as she finished reading the weapons stats.

"Oooooh…what's the 'pink party splosion'" pinkie said

**(A/N…When things are written in bold means it's over the radio.)**

**"he-he"** giggled Emily in a manner scarily similar to pinkie over the radio **"I made it myself! It's a grenade modified to send flying bits of a mineral that is found on my old colony, they burn pink at ten thousand degrees, so anyone hit lights up like confetti….oh they look so pretty when they burn pink." **

The ponies sat in silence, wide eyed and fearful of the horrible weapon. After the initial shock wore off pinkie said "is pink you're favorite color!"

**"Oooh yes, yes, yes, yes!"** she said happily

"ME TOO!" squealed pinkie "when you get back we should have a pink party!"

**"Best. Idea. ever!"** Emily squealed back.

**"My god"** came James's exasperated voice

**"Cut it out"** Dwayne said ** "we're still marines and we still have a job to do."**

Then as that conversation ended Dwayne told them to keep quiet because they were now leaving the perimeter, the ponies watched as the marines, in a loose V formation entered the corridor through the large blast door in the side of the hanger. The ponies had opted to wear the headgear so that they could hear clearer.

**"Okay"** Dwayne said **"we're in, sealing door."** And with an air of finality the large blast door sealed shut

"Good luck Dwayne" Celestia whispered

**"Alright"** the lieutenant said **"motion trackers online, keep it tight people." **

The ponies were starting to feel the suspense as the motion trackers registered nothing, and openly screamed when the door of the APC opened to reveal shining armor.

"Princesses, the area is secured….. I was wondering if I could watch with you."

"Of course" Luna replied as moved aside.

**"Nothing, not a goddamn thing." **Dwayne said angrily looking at his motion tracker

**"Calm down marine, heads up we're moving into cryo bay."** James said moving ahead of the marines. Shining armor had to respect the deliberate movements of the soldiers, they seemed to be so bonded as a team that they became a single body, moving to help each other and covering all blind spots.

**"Alright it seems clear. Let's move to the reactor"** the lieutenant said tapping James on the shoulder so he would get a move on. The Westingland A-59 fusion reactor was HOT with a capital H, it was located at the stern of the ship, with a maximum generating output of 3.6 Terawatts it needed a lot of cooling but after the crash it seemed that it was running only the most basic systems such as doors, lights etc. as the marines entered this sector they became very weary, a gut instinct passed on for generations was screaming danger but that is one of the great sacrifices to be made when you are gifted with superior intelligence, logic rules. And logic said go on.

**"Hot as hell in here"** Jenna said

**"Yeah man but it's a dry heat!"** Dwayne said trying to vent some of the tension.

**"Hey, look"** Emily said pointing as a large patch of clear-black resin that coated the wall on the far side on the entrance.

**"What is it?"** James asked touching it and withdrawing quickly when he felt how slimy it was **"I wonder what it would be classified as on the periodic table" **

**"Hey maybe it's a new element….. Up-your-tainium" **Dwayne laughed, as the rest of the marines joined in they stopped abruptly to a familiar sound that tore the smiles from their faces.

'Bleep'

'Bleep'

'Bleep'

**"Shit, shit, SHIT!"** Dwayne said as he and his squad brought up their weapons.

**"Alright people move! Double time, hell even single time will do!"** the lieutenant whispered loudly. The ponies in the hanger were watching with bated breath, Celestia was scared for Dwayne; he was one of the few people who showed her the love, real love she needed so badly.

**"Ah crap"** they heard Dwayne mutter **"girls I'm sorry to say that whatever's moving is under the primary heat exchangers, so you will drop out of contact for a while, you will still be able to hear us but it might be garbled." **

"Dwayne…" Celestia said "don't be gone long."

**"*****wha-****moving towards tar****" **was all she got in reply.

'Bleep'

'Bleep'

**"Holy sh-******** AHHHHH!******* WHAT THE FU-**** IS THAT!" **

"Dwayne!" the ponies said in scared voices knowing that he couldn't hear them.

**"KILL IT, DWAYNE KILL IT!" **the ponies then heard the telltale sound of Dwayne's pump action shotgun ring out multiple times

**"****** where's the lieutenant, wh-***********he's gone let get the fuck out of here! ******* Eggs! ********* They're coming out of the vents! They're coming out of the goddamn vents lets book!"**

"Dwayne please answer me" Celestia said not quite believing what she was seeing as the lieutenants life signs plummeted.

"he can't hear you" dash mumbled, tears beginning to run down the girls faces while shining armor looked at the once proud marines that were apparently being decimated, he continued staring when her heard Celestia begin to sob. "help them…." She said between sobs. Shining ran outside and told his guards to get ready and to open the blast doors.

** "EAT THIS!*****"** came the distorted voice that the ponies recognized as Jenna's, but the sound they heard after was terrifying… they heard Dwayne scream, a pain filled terrified scream.

**"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! **********Dwayne!-****** GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!*****AH!"** the ponies heard a clatter and a few more blats from various weapons, the most prominent being the smart-guns and Dwayne's shotgun.

**"DWAYNE WE ARE LEAVEING! *****"**

"Guards get ready they are coming back!" Luna yelled. Five minutes later thee door opened and the squad stumbled in, they were in bad shape, the lieutenant was MIA/KIA, Jenna had lost her smart-gun and was using the flamethrower. But by far the worst was Dwayne….. His torso armor and his helmet were missing and the BDUs he wore under them had holes burned into them showing his skin. He was being dragged by Emily and John, Dwayne was still holding onto his shotgun while James and Jenna brought up the rear. James was firing his smart-gun as small, puce colored creatures that resembled large spiders with tails leapt at him. The ponies gasped as Dwayne was set down on a crate, his shin guards, being the only armor let on him, clanked against the steel of the crate.

"Dwayne!" Celestia yelled rushing over as soon the marines cleared to help seal the door and block the vents with heavy equipment. "Please be alright!" she said resting her head on the good part of his chest and stroking the side of his face. The other ponies had started to tear up; they had never seen the princess so emotional before.

"Tia, it is done." Luna said, tears dripping down her face.

"I am so sorry princess" applejack said "we all cared about him."

Celestia let out a sob and rose, being supported by rarity and twilight. As she began to move away from the body, she felt a tug at her mane. Turning she saw Dwayne's hand had grabbed her mane and he began to mumble her name. A huge sigh of relief filled the air as the ponies brightened visibly.

"Cel-celestia-ce" he mumbled moving his head from side to side.

"Yes, yes Dwayne I am here!" she said rushing to her side.

"S-st-stimp….." he groaned

"What?" all the ponies asked

"Move it girls" john said pushing through the huddle and to the princesses dismay stabbing Dwayne with a stimp needle. "Alright" he said when he saw Dwayne's eyes focus, and then he held up three fingers "Dwayne! Look at me! How many fingers am I holding up?" Dwayne simply raised his middle finger at john who laughed "he's fine" he said and helped him sit up "okay Dwayne you take it easy we are locking down the area." And with those words john walked off leaving Dwayne with the ponies.

"a-alright" Dwayne said wincing as he stood, he nearly fell and had to lean of Celestia for support "thanks" he said as they moved into the middle of the room. He cleared his throat loudly so that everyone turned their attention to him. "Alright men, we may be standing in the Alamo here. Our only hope is to fortify with every bullet and every blade until the drop ship is prepped then we can get the hell out of here."

He stopped to let that sink in then continued

"Jenna you and Emily get the ponies, the APC and as many supplies as you can into the drop ship while James, John and I hold off those bastards. We will be using turret support so be careful out there. Let's get to it." And they went about their business the ponies getting into the drop ship while everything else was loaded. Celestia looked at Dwayne one more time, she noticed that though his posture was calm his eyes betrayed the fear that he had hidden within him. She walked up to him as he set up a robot sentry and grabbed a pulse rifle that was resting on a crate. "Dwayne-"she said getting his attention "please….. Tell me what you feel, tell me what you are afraid of."

He looked at her as a tear came to his eye "I-I don't want to d-die"

"You won't" she said as she hugged him, she pulled away and was about to leave when she turned and kissed him on the lips. When they separated Celestia looked around to see if anyone had seen them, they hadn't so she turned back to Dwayne and said "please, just get back in one piece."

"I will" he replied with a tenacity glimmering in his eyes.

Celestia quickly ran to the drop ship and sat near the APC with the other ponies.

"How much longer" whimpered a guard earning a glare from shining armor.

**"Three minutes." **Emily said over the radio

**"We're lucky if we have one."** Dwayne replied

"HERE THEY COME!" John yelled from outside the drop ship which had sealed its ramp

The ponies watched the battle begin on the screens inside the drop ship; the facehuggers were smashing through vents and the grating in some parts of the floor. The ponies were scared but impressed as the three marines outside began firing at the small terrors; they exploded when they were hit spraying acid over a small radius, making it very hard to kill them if they got close.

"Short controlled bursts right!" James laughed as he fired the smart-gun in a wide arc hitting everything in front of him. He was known to have once told his firing instructor that if you put enough led between you and the enemy you would hit him, that's when he was transferred to the smart-gun training program.

"There's too many Dwayne!" john yelled

"Don't even think about it marine!" he yelled back pumping his grenade launcher and firing, sending bits of crate and xeno everywhere.

**"Alright! That's it lets go marines!"** Jenna yelled over the radio. John quickly ran to the drop ship and climbed into the small descending staircase.

"Dwayne, James let's go!" he yelled

As the ponies watched they noticed that the small creatures seemed to have disappeared… then the blast door caved in and a large, black xeno with a strange head that resembled a crown entered. The ponies and humans could only watch as it grabbed James and lifted him off of the ground before grabbing his head and tearing it off, Dwayne looked on frozen with fear as the queen threw his friends lifeless body aside and looked right at him before screeching, running forward, grabbing him and smashing him into a crate knocking him out.

"Dwayne!" Celestia screamed as fluttershy began to cry.

**"Ramp closing, we are outta here!"** Jenna yelled as the drop ship lifted off of the ground and sped through an airlock and into the sky. The airlock closed and the ship returned to lock-down status.

"Dwayne…." Was all the ponies could utter as they sped back to Ponyville.


	8. They don't kill you

Chapter 8 "they don't kill you"

Dwayne awoke with a start, gasping slightly as he got his bearings. His head hurt like hell and he felt oddly restrained, that's when he noticed the resin the coated him.

"Oh shit" he said as he looked around.

To the left of him he could see the lieutenant "sir! Lieutenant! Can you hear m-"he stopped when he saw the almost human like fingers that curved around his head and the tail that tightened every now and then around his neck. Then he began to panic, he struggled and started to cry thinking about what it must feel like to have something blow out of his chest. But he calmed down, paced his breathing and started to look around, that when he heard the hiss. He looked up and met the gaze of the alien queen who stood before him, her ever present sneer on its face. What he didn't expect was that she didn't have an egg sack, but he could see one behind her, empty and dry. "She must have torn it off to reach us…it's that xeno…. It must have evolved into a queen when there were suitable hosts nearby." Dwayne thought. He looked at the queen again who, he could only assume, looked back.

"Why am I not dead?" Dwayne said only to be answered by a slight tilt to the queen's head. "What could you poss-"he stopped as he realized something "you clever girl….. I'm a trap! You want them to come back and save me!" he yelled.

The queen looked stoically back at him "ha-ha! Oh man….. Our moms must be proud huh, their kids finishing what they started." He realized that he was talking to a giant space bug and resigned himself to thinking about his friends, hoping they didn't come to get him but knowing Celestia and Jenna he wouldn't be alone for long. He felt weak and soon fell asleep, hanging off of the wall.

**[Perspective change, Celestia and other survivors] **

The group had landed in Ponyville, and with heavy hearts had gone about setting up a temporary base just on the edge of the town. The ponies were sitting next to a fire near the APC.

"I can't believe he's gone." Twilight said

"I know sugar cube but he would want us to be strong" applejack replied.

"I-I never got throw him a p-party." Pinkie said her mane deflated and a darker shade that usual, as she broke down into silent sobs she sent all the ponies there into a series of sobs.

"He was always so kind, a true gentleman" Rarity said wiping her eyes with a handkerchief

For one of the first times in her life Rainbow Dash broke down in tears and fluttershy joined her as they leaned on each other.

"sister" Luna said as she moved towards her sister, Celestia was the worst case of all the ponies, she didn't cry she simply didn't do anything, just sat staring at nothing, her coat and mane had dulled to a grey, a mere memory of the color that used to be there. "Tia you can't blame yourself, it's not your fault." But she stopped when Celestia looked at her, her eyes were cold, the spark in them all but dead.

"How do you know that? I might have been able to save him." Celestia said weakly

"There was nothing you could do, and did you see that thing! The marines want to destroy the ship!" Luna said hugging her sister. Then they heard a faint 'beep, beep, beep, beep' from the APC. At first they paid it no attention, they were too lost in grief. But after a while the ponies got up to see what it was, when they saw the screen they all froze.

REF.5698 BIO-EOG/BCG PRIMARY TRANS.

[GENERAL HEALTH MONITER]

RIPLEY D.

MISSION TIME 05:22:04

ECG 42 -0

BCG 42-A

EEG 25/2

EOG 100%

Next to each of these was a squiggly line that went up and down in a pattern.

"H-he's alive…." Celestia whispered, as of someone had flipped a switch the color returned to her coat and mane and she yelled for the rest of the humans to come over. When they did the began arguing over what they should do.

"Alright… we have to go back" Jenna said running a hand through her hair.

"Fuck that!" Emily said "for all we know it might be a technical malfunction."

"I say we go in there, guns blazing and pull Dwayne out!" John said worrying about his friend

"How about we do what john said but when we have Dwayne we destroy that place and kill every last one of those things." Celestia said making everyone/everypony look at her. Her eyes had a fire burning in them that Luna had never seen before, and honestly…. It scared her.

"Fuckin' A!" Jenna said loudly slapping Celestia on the back in a friendly way.

"Okay! Lock and load marines!" John said grabbing a pulse rifle.

**[Perspective change, Pvt. Dwayne Ripley]**

Dwayne was alone. He had never felt so alone, the he realized that he was in the hive. He looked at the ground and saw a pulse rifle, as he picked it up he heard a moan ahead of him. He looked up and began to walk down the hallway. He heard a familiar voice moan again.

"No" he said starting to run "no, no, no, NO!"

He turned the corner to see Celestia stuck in resin.

"C-Celestia!?" he said

"Dwayne…..p-please k-k-kill me." She said as she began to convulse, a loud cracking was heard and a shower of blood came from her chest, staining her coat red.

"NOOOOOO!" Dwayne screamed. He jolted awake.

"ahh…..just a dream….just a dream" he told himself over and over again. he looked up and saw the queen asleep, a new egg sack already half grown behind her.

"D-Dwayne? You awake?"

"Lieutenant!" Dwayne said looking over at his form; the face hugger had already fallen off and died at his feet.

"Listen, I have been cutting away at your cocoon with my welder. Try getting out" he said weakly.

Dwayne used his feet to push off of the wall; he fell and landed in a heap. He got up and looked back at the lieutenant "thank you sir." He said

"H-here take my helmet… try to call them….. Now run!" he said

"Sir… it's been an honor." Dwayne said as he jogged away. He planned to get to the armory, rearm then find a room to hold up in. when he reached the armory he found only two pulse rifles and one flamethrower, his shotgun was where he left it but it only had five shells left.

"Whoopee-fucking-do!" he muttered, grabbing a welder and made his way to the mess, it was central and it had food in there.

He had just realized that he was starving and hadn't eaten in two days. As he entered the mess hall he sat down with some food and looked over the helmet that the lieutenant gave him it was plain camo save for a cartoony red lobster tail painted on the rear neck guard ending at the base of the helmet. Dwayne chuckled at the dry pun, the armor consisted of plates held together with one overlapping the other and finally connecting to the helmet. The technical term for this type of armor layout was 'lobster plates' hell it even looked kind of like a lobster's tail.

**[Perspective change, Celestia and other survivors] **

The group had opted to use the APC to get to the Sulaco; now that they were nearing the wreckage the humans were getting restless, reloading their weapons and shifting. Celestia sat near them; she had ordered the girls and her sister to stay at the camp, they had objected at first but she finally convinced them to stay with the guards. The marines had given her a pistol that she could use quite effectively with her magic.

"Alright" Emily said from the driver's seat "we're here."

"Let's go!" Jenna yelled, standing up and opening the door. As they got out they saw the airlock ahead of them. Jenna raised her new smart-gun and moved forward, taking the lead. They had all but cleared out the Sulaco before they left so they had enough weapons, gear and ammo to last a small army a few years. Hell they had even gotten all the power loaders onto the drop ship before they left. As they neared the airlock it scanned them and opened. They entered cautiously and moved forward taking in their surroundings and listening for any sounds from the motion tracker.

"Clear" John said moving forward.

As they walked through the corridors they hit an intersection so Jenna and john went one way while Celestia and Emily went the other. Celestia stopped briefly when she saw a lot of secreted resin in front of her. Emily noticed this and said "want to turn back?"

"n-no I'm fine." She said. As they moved in further Celestia saw bullet casings littering the floor, this must have been the site of the first battle. Further forward they found Jenna's old smart-gun, which had been melted as well as Dwayne's armor which had a large hole in it where the acid had burnt through.

"Okay, just a little further then we go find the others" Emily said fear ever present in her voice.

"Alright" Celestia replied levitating the pistol in front of her, as they moved though she spotted a pulse rifle stuck in the resin. She pulled it out and looked it over before putting the pistol under her wing and levitating the rifle in front of her.

"Huh must be the lieutenants" Emily said looking at Celestia. Then they heard a loud groan from further up the corridor.

"Is that Dwayne" Celestia said as she sped up, the two ran around the corner to find the lieutenant hanging there.

"Jesus, sir can you hear me!?" Emily said moving up to him but before she could touch him he yelled "STAY. AWAY. FROM. ME!" each word he said was interlaced with agony . He then turned to them and said "p-please k-k-kill me."

"Sir" Emily said "we can help yo-"

"No you can't" he replied flashing a weak smile "find Dwayne, he has my comm…. Now please, there isn't much time." He said starting to cough blood.

"S-sir I-I" Emily started "I can't do it!"

"AAAAGH! IT HURTS!" he said "DO IT!" a crunch could be heard from his chest "NOW!"

Emily started to cry and a loud shot was heard. Emily turned to see Celestia with the pulse rifle levitating beside her.

"y-you" Emily started

"Please" Celestia said her ears dropping back "I don't want to think about it" but a crunching ended that conversation as a small puce xenomorph that was covered in blood and gore burst from the dead lieutenant's chest, Emily fired but missed and it got away into the piping and vents. "Alright… let's find Dwayne." She said.

As they turned to leave though a hiss stopped them and they turned to see the queen suspended by large, strong bands of resin the connected it to the ceiling. Celestia couldn't help but feel disgusted as she realized what the egg sack was.

She turned to Emily and asked "Emily give me your pink party splosion."

Emily complied and the queen let out a weak hiss; in this state she was weaker than normal. It took a lot of energy to create an egg sack, and it had just finished this one. She would begin producing eggs in a few hours. Though there were already hundreds of facehuggers crawling over the ship. Celestia activated the grenade and chucked it at the queen. When it detonated it did little to no damage to the queen but the egg sack was in tatters as the pink shards burnt their way into it. The queen screeched loudly and a few smaller black creatures emerged from the walls, to Celestia they looked similar to manticors, with baubles on their tails. She didn't want to think about how these things killed a manticore.

So she didn't waste any time "DIE YOU BITCH!" she screamed as she brought up her pulse rifle and fired. The creatures screeched when they were hit and fell to the ground in a fountain of acid blood, which proceeded to melt through the floor. The queen screeched again as her guards died, Celestia turned her pulse rifle to the queen and fired, but the rounds did nothing to her hardened exoskeleton but seemed to have greater effect on the thin membrane of the egg sack, shredding through it and the eggs that lay in and around it. When she ran out of ammo Celestia pumped the grenade launcher and fired four grenades in quick succession into it. When they detonated they sent clear fluid flying everywhere, the one grenade that hit the queen did some damage but nothing more than a deep cut from which acid spilled. Celestia let the empty pulse rifle drop to the floor and she and Emily ran back down the corridor from which they had come. The queen screeched loudly and proceeded to tear anything that held her down apart, when she fell she stood, severing her connection to the egg sack and she proceeded to run through a destroyed blast door, hoping that she would intercept them.

About an hour later they found John and Jenna, they had gone to the armory where they had left a few pulse rifles and found that they were already gone.

"I'm telling you I got a bad feeling about this" John said as the started walking to the cryo bay "I mean have you guys seen any heavy resistance, even when you went into the hive. I'm telling you it's like they're all doing something else."

"That may be true but hey…. I ain't complaining" Emily said but they all stopped abruptly when

They hear shots in the distance.

"Dwayne can you read me!" Jenna yelled into her comm.

**"*****BANG! BANG! ** nice of you guys to show up***"** came the reply.

"Dwayne!" Celestia said

**"Celestia!? What are you doing here you could get hurt!"** he paused then continued **"listen, it's a trap. The queen wants you here…but I got away, she must have sent every one of these facehuggin' bastards after me!"**

"Yeah we already found her…. Boy is she pissed" Emily said making Dwayne pause, after a few tense seconds Dwayne said "and the lieutenant?"

"Gone" Celestia said looking down.

**"…. Sorry to hear that." **Dwayne replied **"but we can grieve later, now I need some evac!"**

"Roger" Jenna said starting to run "moving to your position." And they ran off to find Dwayne. When they finally got to the mess they found the door welded shut but dented in and riddled with bullet holes.

"Open it" john said as Jenna moved forward and began cutting through the door. When it opened they were greeted by the smell of burned metal and plastic. They looked around at the mas of at least seventy dead facehuggers and more of the manticore like aliens, slowly melting through the floor. One jumped at john only to be shredded in midair by Emily's rifle. They stopped and looked around for Dwayne but they couldn't find him anywhere they looked. They were about to give up when they heard running water.

"It's coming from the bathroom." Jenna whispered as the group piled in front of the door.

"NOW!" john screamed kicking the door in. inside they found Dwayne, shaving.

"Damn!" he said as he cut himself when the door blew open.

"Dwayne?" they all said in disbelief.

"Jesus you must have a fuckin' angel watching over you or something." Jenna said

"Yeah well….. here I am." He said washing his face off.

"Okay!" Emily said loudly "we have time for this later but now let's get the fuck outta here!"

"Agreed, we have to move fast." Dwayne said picking up his pulse rifle.

As the group reached the hatch Dwayne turned "we have to destroy this place "

"Yeah….. Ok Sherlock where are we going to get the firepower to do that" john said

"I'm going to destabilize the reactor." He said simply.

"But we need the fuel, ammo and power if we are going to keep the gear working!" Jenna protested

"Listen, this is a military vessel… its equipped with a Hydrogen operated portable environment or 'H.O.P.E' for short. We will have everything we need." He said smiling

"Yeah" John said "good idea"

"Let's do it." Dwayne said moving off with Celestia following him, while the others split into two groups, Emily went to the APC to prep for a quick getaway while John and Jenna went to initialize the 'H.O.P.E' launcher, which was basically rockets stuck to a section of the ship that would push the 'H.O.P.E' colony away in any direction. The plan was for it to land just outside of Ponyville where the humans could make their home and base.

Dwayne was walking at a brisk pace when he reached the reactor cooling system. He had explained the plan to Celestia and oddly enough she agreed readily, though it would mean explaining a huge explosion to the townspeople.

"Alright… that's it. It should go off in about half an hour s-" Dwayne said but stopped abruptly when he felt arms curl around him "Celestia what wrong" he asked turning.

She looked at him with tears in her eyes and said "I've done things I am not proud of Dwayne." She said, her ears dropping down. Dwayne quickly understood and hugged her. "There was no other option, you did what you had to do to defend you're subjects." They stayed like that until they heard a loud 'KA-THUNK' reverberate through the ship as the 'H.O.P.E' launched.

"We should go" Dwayne said getting up and grabbing his pulse rifle.

"y-yes" Celestia said with a small smile.

The two groups met each other just outside the airlock; john and Jenna had even stopped by the hive and retrieved the lieutenants and James's bodies. When everyone was out Dwayne welded it shut, they placed the lieutenants and James's bodies in the APC and gathered together just outside the sliding door.

"Well that's it then" john said, they all stopped when a long, clear, sticky line of goo landed on his shoulder. "The fuck…." He said. Then suddenly a sharp black tail slashed him over the shoulder sending him bleeding and unconscious into the APC. The queen seemed to be breathing heavily, as if she was in a rage. She looked at Celestia and Dwayne and hissed angrily before screeching and shoving the APC twenty meters into the trees.

"Go" Celestia said to Emily and Jenna who were standing off to one side. They dragged john to the APC which had come to rest in a small clearing its seventy seven ton body had created.

"Dwayne if this is the end I have to tell you something…." Celestia started but she stopped when Dwayne began to move her to the side. "What are you doing she asked" but then she noticed the main gun on the APC begin to rotate, as soon as she realized Dwayne's plan she moved. The queen realized too late that something was wrong; she turned and with a screech noticed the large barrels pointed at her.

"Up yours your majesty" Dwayne yelled. The cannons fired and blew the queen into the ship's hull creating a large dent. Dwayne looked through the smoke and saw the queen's body, it was mangled, one arm was severed and her legs were nowhere to be seen. But even after all that she was still alive.

"Why won't you just fucking die?" Dwayne yelled at the shifting form.

"Dwayne!" Emily yelled "we need to leave now!"

Then they got into the APC and drove away quickly. Little did they notice that as they drove away a single griffin wearing silver armor emblazoned with their emblem emerged from behind some trees.

"Well, well, well…. Looks like these goodie two shoes ponies have some new pets." he said. He looked at the large metal structure and couldn't help but admire the technology and effort that went into it. He was about to fly away and report to the king when he saw a small puce creature crawl out of a hole in the side of the ship.

"What have he here?" he said covering the distance and pouncing on the creature, he held it up to his face, his talon wrapped around its neck so that it couldn't bite him. He smiled as it screeched and writhed in his talons. "Well, I am sure the king will reward me for this little thing." And he flew off towards the sandy kingdom to the west.

[Perspective change: base camp.]

The ponies had been waiting for hours now and yet they hadn't seen hide or hair of the humans and their beloved princess. They had only really started to worry when they saw a large square structure fall from the sky, it landed with a dull 'thud' and remained silent after that. Luna had finally summoned the guard when they saw a bright white light and a loud explosion that shook the earth.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Twilight yelled looking at the point where the flashes of bright light come from.

"I don't know sugar cube but I'm betting that them humans have something to do with it." Applejack said rolling her eyes slightly.

"Well whatever it was I think we should at least try to relax, I mean they can handle themselves." Rarity said, moving to some crates and sitting on them.

Luna looked at the guards that were trying to move the large object that had fallen from the sky, large didn't quite describe it; it was about the same size as the throne room… which was rather big.

"LOOK!" pinkie screamed pointing at a gray block that moved towards them very quickly.

"I-is it g-going to stop?" fluttershy whispered.

It certainly didn't look it, as the APC sped towards the camp. But it skidded to a halt near to the drop ship, and when the door opened princess Celestia walked out with a gloomy expression.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" all the ponies yelled in delight rushing up to nuzzle her and barrage her with questions.

"Did you find Dwayne sister?" asked Luna

"Yes" came the unhappy reply. The ponies noticed this and began asking what was wrong.

"Cheer up princess! Now we can have a 'hooray you beat the monsters party' and you can have Dwayne all to yourself." Pinkie said bouncing up and down. Behind her rainbow dash scowled.

"I think that will have to wait my little pony." She said still downcast.

"But why….." pinkie started but she froze when she saw the four humans exit carrying two stretchers with James's and the lieutenant's bodies on them. John had some bandage around his shoulder where the queen's tail had slashed.

"Oh sister" Luna said hugging Celestia tight.

The marines took the bodies to a small pile of crates which they out them in, these were probably the only thing the marine core provided that fit everyone… coffins.

"As soon as we have the colony set up we have to bury them" Dwayne said looking at the row of four coffins. He turned to Celestia and hugged her in front of everypony; Luna and the mane 6 already knew of this little infatuation between the two and didn't mind. But for shining armor and the small army of royal guards that stood around them it was a different story. They immediately surrounded him, knocked him to the ground and began restraining him using slightly more force than was necessary.

"We have him your majesty." One unicorn guard called, and despite the princesses' objections continued to 'detain him' as they called it.

"HEY!" yelled john "why don't you go play soldiers somewhere else!" the ponies turned to see him standing there in a power loader, he raised its arms to make it more intimidating and took a step forward making a loud thud that drove the ponies back a few steps.

"h-he assaulted the princess!" one guard yelled

"Seriously" Jenna snorted all the ponies turned to her, she was leaning against the power loaders leg "you guys can't tell the difference between affection and assault?!... What a sorry excuse for soldiers."

"You. Take. That. Back!" shining said through gritted teeth.

"Or what" Emily teased emerging in another power loader. The guards answered by drawing their swords and spears. The humans' simply got into a standard fighting line.

Luna and Celestia had had enough, they drew breath to yell for them to stop but before they had a chance to they heard Dwayne yell at his peers.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled moving up to stand in front of them "john get down here" he said pointing at the ground a foot away from him. John complied. "Alright" Dwayne started his tone dripping with an angry disappointment "just what the FUCK do you think you are doing! Huh, I could have handled it…. whereas you nearly started a war!" then turning to the rest "all of you, I thought you were smarter than this." He turned and walked to the coffins placing a hand on James's "listen" he said in a quiet voice filled with sadness "I know we are all in strung out shape, but stay frosty and alert, we can't afford to let petty fights end in bloodshed." As he ended his little speech nobody moved, even the air seemed still. Then the marines all went about prepping the 'H.O.P.E' colony. As everypony moved and got back to work, Celestia walked up to Dwayne and hugged him from behind. They just sat there like that while the mane 6 smiled. Luna was smiling but she thought about how the upper-class ponies of chanterlot would take to this "oh this can't end well" she mumbled to herself.

"Dwayne!" john called "we're ready to start the colonizing procedure." The colonizing procedure was fairly basic, mostly automated and actually quite impressive. First the grey rectangle shaped things walls would collapse outwards with the help of small, sturdy hydraulic legs, where they would be removed by the power loaders and made into a slightly raised landing pad, propped up by the legs. Second the building inside, which resembled the colony on LV-426's control center, would extend tunnels outwards that would expand and turn into a mess hall, barracks, motor pool and an armory.

At the center the main building consisted of two floors. The first floor was the main room, which housed labs and the med bay. The second was the main control center, which looked exactly like the one from Hadley's hope just that it had only one door that led to the staircase to the first floor. Lastly the generator would come online. More rooms and extensions could be added to the structure wherever needed. (Think of a mini Hadley's hope without the atmosphere processor, shorter corridors and more compact spacing.)

"Home sweet home" Emily said in a jocular manner.

"It seems rather…. Industrial doesn't it." Luna commented

"It has to be" Jenna replied smiling

"It's s-scary" fluttershy said from the back of the group.

"It has certain…. Cubic fashion doesn't it." Rarity said trying and failing to hide her distain.

"My stars" applejack said moving forward and tapping the metal "it looks stronger than mah barn!"

Pinkie bounced up and looked around before smiling and saying "we can have a party later right here! That would liven the place up!"

"That's a great idea!" Dwayne said though his voice was slightly muffled by Celestia who wouldn't be more than…well, physical contact away from him. And right now she had herself draped over him, holding tight. Luna chuckled; she doubted that even the elements of harmony would make her move. She was like an extremely over protective mother.

Dash flew once around the complex before coming down and dramatically saying "okay, slumber party… here tonight!"

"Oh I can't wait to see all the technology in this" twilight squealed making Celestia giggle.

"That's my student!" she said proudly. Watching the marines and guard ponies, who were now talking happily to each other while moving the equipment and weapons into the armory, the APC and the power loaders into the motor pool and landing the drop ship on the newly constructed landing pad. As she watched she suddenly felt the lack of sleep begin to catch up with her. "my little ponies, how long have we been up?" she asked.

"Umm I'm not sure princess" twilight said

"It's been 47 hours, 58 minutes and three, no four seconds!" pinkie said bouncing up and down.

"Oh boy" dash yawned "I need a nap."

"Say there sugar cube, can you show us where to bunk, we're mighty tired" applejack asked Dwayne.

"Oh, yes right!" he said in a happy voice, Leading the ponies to a large blue metal door with a large white "1" on it. When it opened the ponies looked in wonder at the human architecture, it was… for lack of a better word archaic.

"Well this is… comely" Rarity said, eying the metal grating and the warning labels on everything.

"Come on; let's get to the command center" Dwayne said rolling his eyes. As they walked up the stairs Celestia wondered about where they were going to sleep, and what the command center looked like.

"Mi casa et sue casa!" Dwayne said as they entered a room filled with computers with large windows that overlooked the entrance to the small colony and the landing pad. "There are beds over there" he said pointing to some small but comfortable beds in an adjacent room, they were meant for the night staff that couldn't stray too far away from the consoles.

"I will sleep in the officers' quarters." He said pointing to a door "if you need anything I will be right here and the marines will be in the barracks a hundred yards away. Now if you'll excuse me I have to take a shower." He said going back down the stairs and heading to the barracks where the showers were located. The officers' quarters may be very well furnished, but the one thing it didn't have was a private shower.

As the ponies settled in for the night Celestia looked at the door Dwayne had left through, she would have accompanied him had she not known that bathing together would arise some serious questions.

"Well goodnight sister" Luna said as she brought up the moon and falling asleep.

"Yes….goodnight" she said, a smile playing on her face as she looked at the door to Dwayne's room.

**A/N i want to give a quick shout out to MidGerm for beta reading this chapter, his support and advice concerning the Xenomorphs has been invaluable to the story line.** **7****hank you all for supporting my first story and please keep reviewing. **


	9. Sweet dreams

Chapter 9 "sweet dreams"

A/N WARNING

THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER CONTAINS EXPLICIT ADULT MATERIAL AS REQUESTED BY SOME READERS… IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE REQUIRED OF THE U.S COLONIAL FANFIC ADMINISTRATION YOU CANNOT VIEW THIS DOCUMENT.

DO NOT JUDGE ME, IT'S MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT A FAP SCENE.

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

Dwayne was just getting out of the showers, he had spent about two hours in there with the water on hot and he had finally removed all of the resin from his body and hair. "Oh man" he muttered when he picked up his BDUs, they had holes in them as well as some caked on blood. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself. And started heading to the armory to see what stock the previous crew of the Sulaco had, he hoped to find some replacement armor and BDUs.

When he got there he found that there were some spares, he found those belonging to his 'father' and tried them on. They fit perfectly, they even had the heart with a padlock on it, and he wondered what it stood for as he walked back to the command center. When he entered he found all the ponies asleep, he smiled at how serene they were when they slept. What he failed to notice was the one missing pony, a certain white princess. As he opened the door to his quarters he was surprised to find Celestia lying on his bed smiling at him.

"Oh sorry princess, was your bed not big enough? I can take that one, you can have mine-"he started but Celestia silenced him with a hoof and a small laugh

"that's not what I want at all" she said smiling. She stood up and covered the distance between them swaying her hips as she walked. "I think you know what I want." Her voice filled with lust.

Dwayne was many things, but he want stupid, he figured out what Celestia wanted immediately, but he was hesitant, she was a PRINCESS for pities sake!

"Celestia you don't mean…"

"oh but I do Dwayne" she replied "I knew I felt something for you when you saved my sister, and though you are of a different species and a violent one at that, you have a heart, you understand the one thing more powerful than friendship, love." She had begun pacing up and down the room "I have had many suitors over my lifetime, but I paid them no heed, I knew that if I waited long enough I would find that special somepony… someone." She looked at her hooves and shuffled them as if she expected the worst.

"Celestia…" Dwayne began "I-I L-Love you."

Her ears perked up at that, in fact neither of them had expected him to say that.

"What?" she asked

"I love you" he said again, it came out more easily this time. He paused long enough for the both of them to fling themselves into each other's arms. Their mouths met in a heated kiss but Dwayne broke it long enough to say "wait, are interspecies relationships even legal?"

Celestia, who had been nibbling on his ear and neck simply said "of course! There have always been interspecies couples…within reason of course. A griffin/pony relationship is almost common in Manehatten, and there are many pony/mule couples that I have met. And there have been some zebra/pony marriages that I have heard of. "

After that they let their hands/hooves do the talking for them, gently caressing each other. Dwayne knew he had sound her soft spot when he stroked her cutie mark, Celestia gasped when he did it and was left shuddering with pleasure. From Celestia's perspective however it was much harder to find a soft spot through armor and she steadily became more and more frustrated until finally she pulled away from the kissing and petting to try to get it off. When she failed Dwayne had to do everything in his power not to laugh as her hoofs played over the clips that connected his armor plates together, finally she cracked muttering something about can openers she lifted him up into the air with magic and tried everything to get him out. After about ten minutes of this Dwayne looked at Celestia and laughed "need a hand" he said smiling. She glared at him as he quickly undid his armor and let it clatter to the floor. They came back together and cuddled while flopping down onto the bed.

"So are you going to remove your clothes or will I have to do it for you" she said raising her eyebrow in a naughty way.

"You sure do come on hard for a princess" Dwayne said getting up and removing everything but his boxers.

Celestia looked at him hungrily; Dwayne could only describe the look in her eyes as predatory. "Dwayne… I have waited a thousand years… I don't want to wait any longer." The she pinned him with her magic before tearing off his boxers with her mouth, and straddled his stomach. Dwayne could feel wetness on his stomach, he tried to lift his head but Celestia pinned him with another kiss.

"Now you are mine" she whispered huskily in his ear. She started kissing him, getting steadily more and more enthusiastic until she felt something stir in her tail. She smiled at Dwayne as his cheeks blushed. "Well somepon-one is enjoying this." She said as she moved down.

"Celestia what…" Dwayne started from his pinned position, but stopped when he felt Celestia's mouth close over his member.

"Oh!" he moaned as Celestia bobbed her head up and down. After about twenty minutes of this she noticed his muscles contracting and his fists clenching, she knew what was about to happen. "Celestia, Move!" He yelled. The magic that was pinning him prevented him from looking down or anything else for that matter. He moaned as he released, Celestia, having never experienced this before removed her mouth from his member before he had finished. As soon as she had moved her head Dwayne came again, getting his spunk all over her face and mane. Her eyes went wide with surprise at first but them she smiled, letting her lust get the better of her she moved up to look Dwayne in the face. She almost laughed at his expression when he saw he face.

"umm… sorry" he started when she licked it off of her lips and hummed in approval.

"Now then" she said smiling, releasing him from her magical grip and turning around before lowering her forelegs lifting her flank into the air. "Now… mount me" she ordered.

"Are you sure Celestia?" he asked

"yyyyeeeesssss!" she hissed at him, straightening her hind legs to help support his weight. She felt his hands caress her flank; she moaned loudly when he rested his hand on her cutie mark and brushed her tail aside. "I'll be gentle" he said positioning himself behind her. When he entered her did so slowly so if Celestia told him to stop he could do so at a moment's notice. But she didn't, in fact she simply screwed her eyes tight when he reached her hymen and nodded when he stopped, he pushed forward and felt the resistance suddenly give and he continued to push forward, Celestia grit her teeth at the sensation. Her grunts of pain soon turned to moans of pleasure. Soon she felt herself begin to tighten in her lower regions, and had to muffle her screams of ecstasy with a pillow as she reached her first orgasm. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head slightly and she shuddered when she felt him finish inside her. She felt a little of it dribble out of her vagina as he moaned and pulled out before slumping down beside Celestia, who was still recovering. She gently got down beside him breathing heavily "well…. That was entertaining." She said to him with a small smile. He looked back at her before pulling a goofy grin "well how was it?" he asked

"It was…AMAZING!" she said "though it was my first time so I have nothing to compare it to." She joked.

"Ha-ha… wait your an all powerful princess who lives in a palace and you've remained a virgin…how?" he asked. Celestia looked at him affectionately before telling him how she had waited a thousand years for that one special somepony. "So that's my story… and how about you, how was it?"

"It was good for me too." He said staring at the ceiling, a content smile on his face.

She raised her eyebrow "so the princess of the sun was only 'good' for you." She had to suppress a laugh at how his expression changed from one o contentment to one of apologetic fear.

"Ummm- I didn't mean- umm….. I'm sorry" he said

"Dwayne I was joking, I know what you mean." She said as Dwayne let out a sigh of relief then yawned "can we get some sleep, we need our energy for tomorrow." He said, Celestia smiled and hugged him taking pleasure in his soft, smooth skin. She couldn't help but think how much nicer it was hugging him than anypony. They wrapped themselves around each other and drifted into a blissful sleep.

[Next morning]

Luna awoke with a yawn and a stretch; she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and got up. She saw the rest of the ponies sleeping soundly in their beds, not a care in the world. She looked over at where her sister had been the night before but she wasn't there. This surprised Luna because she knew of her sister's attitude towards waking up. "She must have gotten up to raise the sun and help around the base." She told herself. She stood and was about to go down the stairs to find Celestia when she heard giggling coming from Dwayne's room, she was about to continue anyway when she heard a little scream... it was Celestia! She quickly ran to his room and tried the door but it was locked, she then charged up her magic and proceeded to bust into the room. What she saw shocked her to say the least; Celestia was hugging a naked Dwayne as they kissed each other on the bed. "Ahem!" Luna said "what I beg art thou doing bedding my sister?" she said reverting to her royal voice despite her practice in speaking like other ponies.

"LUNA!" Celestia said opening her wings to cover Dwayne up.

"Celestia come outside now, we need to talk." Luna said leaving the room. There was no mistaking the anger in her voice.

"Celestia, I'll talk to her" Dwayne said starting to get up.

"No, I shall do it… I am the princess and I need to take responsibility." She said a frown on her face as she left Dwayne to get dressed.

Outside Celestia found Luna glaring at her "downstairs. Now." She said pointing at the other door. Celestia hung her head like a child as she walked behind Luna, when they finally reached the corridor at the bottom of the stairs Luna turned to Celestia with a worried expression on her face "Tia, what are you doing?" she asked "you know that I love Dwayne as much as you do but you know what has to happen now don't you."

Celestia looked confused for a moment before realization and fear dawned on her "Luna you don't mean…" she trailed off.

"Tia, I fully support you and Dwayne, it's about time… and you deserve a stallion as good as he is, but the ponies of chanterlot will demand it, anypony that isn't royalty and wants to wed a princess must fight and defeat the strongest enemies the kingdoms can provide to prove himself worthy." Luna said with a sigh "oh how I wish this didn't have to happen, but those intolerant ponies at chanterlot will say that its tradition….and the fact that he is a HUMAN well that will make all the more hard for him to win them over. Oh dear the poor thing has seen enough combat… I just want it to stop Tia, I see a love in you two that I envy but please give him a choice for his sake…"

"b-but I don't want to lose him" Celestia said with tears in her eyes

"You won't" Dwayne said popping up from behind the stairs. Both princesses gasped and looked slightly scared as he came out of hiding.

"Dwayne…I understand if you don't want to do it-" Celestia started before Dwayne cut her off with a hand.

"Celestia, I'm hurt… did you think I would really leave you just to get out of a little fight" he said with a smile bashing his fist into his palm "those guys won't know what hit them"

"Dwayne" Luna said in a worried voice "this is serious; there hasn't been a duel like this since before our rule. In fact the only reason it's remembered is because ponies could …die." She said with a look of disgust.

"Wait, wait" Dwayne said raising his arms "are you saying that ponies kill? I thought you were all peaceful." He said in a disappointed voice.

"Not directly, they died because of accidents, nopony is supposed to die, but…. They can get hurt….badly" Luna said.

"Ok, I'll be careful." Dwayne said.

"Dwayne, you have to understand… all the kingdoms put forth one candidate to fight….. and I know that the _pegasi, _unicorns and earth ponies will understand so don't worry about them… it's the griffins, zebras, dragons and changelings you want to worry about. The griffons and dragons love fighting and would love to harm you just to prove that they can hurt something new and supposedly more advanced than them. The zebras don't seem to like humans very much, and though you have made zecora a friend I don't know how the others will react… but I am good friends with them, they will be fair. The changelings….they simply hate me so they will try to hurt you to hurt me."

She looked at him sternly before saying in a cold voice that even made Luna feel horrid

"and don't think your species talent for **war** will help… in fact it would be a drawback, you will have to restrain yourself… and though I love you if you harm anypony then I will be forced to take action." She looked very cold to Dwayne when she said that, as if the warm aura surrounding her had disappeared. She was about to turn and walk away when she turned and hugged and kissed him "please don't make me have to send you away" she sobbed, tears dripping down her face "I'm sorry I said that but please promise… pinkie promise that you will be okay!"

"I pinkie promise" Dwayne said pretending to stuff a cupcake in his eye. Then they hugged, Dwayne comforting Celestia the whole time. When they drew away from each other they were smiling and they looked at Luna who was making *squee* noises.

"Oh Tia I'm so jealous… you're so perfect together!" she said bouncing up and down before freezing in midair "are you going to get married…oh my gosh I am going to have a brother!" then she froze again "maybe I will be an aunt…an AUNT!" she said in a voice that sounded like rainbow dash when she met the wonder bolts.

Celestia and Dwayne smiled as they watched her, while she was still bouncing and gushing with excitement he put his arm around Celestia and drew her in for a quick kiss "I love you" he said looking into her eyes. "I love you more" she teased as they both looked back at Luna.

Luna calmed down, blushed and looked at the ground "sorry to burst in on you during you're…..intimate moment. If you wish you could go continue, I could tell the humans that Dwayne doesn't feel well and the Tia had to go back to chanterlot for a moment." At that both Celestia and Dwayne blushed "I think I would like that" Celestia said. Dwayne looked at her, smiled and dragged her back to his room. He could only ponder his luck at managing to call the officers room rather than the shared barracks, much to the other marines' disappointment. Luna only giggled as she watched them go off to continue their 'game'. "Oh I hope they can be happy" she said thinking of the competition he was going to go through.

"Okay" okay said as he locked the door "now so long as we keep it down we won't have any more intrusions."

Celestia only smiled and patted the space on the bed next to her.

[Perspective change: the mane 6]

The mane six were lying in bed, their eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. They had In fact been awake since Luna had stormed into Dwayne's room.

"Oh…my" fluttershy whispered as they went back into his room.

"I know… who would have thought." Rarity said

"The princess is having…relations with Dwayne!" twilight said in disbelief "oh this is going to make a lot of ponies angry, especially those rich snobs from chanterlot."

"Ah for one think it's perfect." Applejack said standing up "Dwayne Is hard workin', loyal, kind and he would do anythin' to protect a pony."

"Yay! Another wedding! Oh this would have to be bigger, better…." Pinkie began rambling

Rainbow dash simply looked at the ground and sighed.

"Are you okay rainbow?" twilight asked worried for her friend

"I-I like him" rainbow confessed blushing

"Oh" all her friends said in unison.

"Well rainbow… you know you are one of the most popular ponies in Ponyville, I guess you could find somepony else." Fluttershy said trying to cheer her friend up.

"But I don't want somepony I want someone!" dash said getting a little defensive.

"Dear you can't be selfish like that" Rarity said "they love each other and you can't stop that, just be patient and maybe you will discover that in time that he loves you in his own special way."

Dash slumped down in defeat "huh… I guess you're right. I can't just ruin someone's happiness by being selfish."

"Wow dash, that very mature of you" twilight said with a smile as all the girls laughed and got out of bed.

Meanwhile in Dwayne's bedroom Celestia giggled as they snuggled in bed, this was cut short by a loud burst of static from his helmet.

"Dwayne you there?" came Jenna's voice

Celestia sighed when Dwayne gave her an apologetic look, got up and grabbed the helmet.

"Dwayne here what's up." He snapped into the mike.

"Whoa easy there partner" Jenna said "we need to bury the bodies, you got five understood. Over out."

Dwayne sighed and looked at Celestia, her face was solemn. "Well up and at em'… we have work to do."

Celestia got up and hugged Dwayne one last time before he put on his armor, Celestia couldn't help but smile as he put it on.

"What are you looking at?" he smiled back at her.

"Oh nothing, nothing… just the pony…. Sorry person that I love." She replied

"Alright enough gooey, gooey nonsense, let's go." And they left the room only to be greeted by a bunch of smiling ponies.

"Ah crap" Dwayne muttered.

"So how'd you sleep sugar cube?" applejack asked smirking at the blushes on their faces.

"Why Dwayne" rarity spoke up "I never took you to be the romantic type."

"Yeah, yeah drop it, we have to go now." Dwayne said looking serious but still blushing furiously.

They made their way to the center of the courtyard where shining and the rest of the marines were waiting. Next to them stood four coffins, each stood next to a hole in the ground.

"I sent the rest of the guard back to the palace" shining whispered to the princesses when they were close enough.

"Good" Luna said looking from the captain and her sister to Dwayne who had just walked up to the rest of the marines and was conversing quietly with them. "Sister, the grand galloping gala is coming up and the representatives from all of the kingdoms will be there, you may want to tell the humans what is going to happen… also tell them to make a good impression, the tougher they look the better. At least that way they will think your 'fiancée' is worth his steel so to speak."

Celestia nodded and shining looked between the princesses with a look of confusion on his face.

"Princess what do you mean fiancée?" he asked

"Well…" Celestia started "we sort off…. *cough* love each other…." She said the last part very quickly.

Shining armor looked stunned for a moment before smiling "congratulations… but will he…" he trailed off waving his hoof.

"Yes" Luna said curtly referring to the 'challenges' he would have to face.

"And what of the ponies that would disapprove?" he asked

"Oh they will have to live with their intolerance" Celestia said "maybe they will learn a lesson on tolerance before this is over."

"Ahem!" Dwayne cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "it's time." The marines lined up next to the coffins, in line with their rifles slung.

Dwayne took a measured step forward and spoke in a sad voice "we hereby commit these bodies to the earth, and though they died on strange ground they did so in the defense of the innocent, a cause that we have and will continue die for. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

He paused before continuing.

"Laurence Johnson. Lieutenant 09/7786/4/67543/6" Dwayne placed a picture of the lieutenant from when he graduated from WestPoint.

"Robert Dutch. Sargent 09/5456/3564/2345, beloved husband and father." Dwayne stopped for a moment and placed a picture of Dutch holding up a young boy with a woman hugging him around the waist. A tear dripped down his face as he returned to his place.

"James Keyes. 09/575423/65432/4, good friend." Again Dwayne bent down and placed a picture of him and James holding his shotgun when he first got it. Dwayne then stepped back and john took his place, walking up to Penelope's coffin.

"P- Penelope Watson. 09/65853/4536754/ *sob* co-pilot" he bend down and placed a picture of him when he had first proposed to her, in the picture Penelope was smiling and had her arms draped over John who had a look of sheer shock and ecstasy on his face. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet black box, he was about to place it on top of the picture when he stopped and let out a weak laugh "you would have wanted that…" was all the ponies heard as he rose, walked up to Dwayne and placed the box in his hand. Dwayne wore a shocked expression as John whispered something to him. When he had finished Dwayne hugged him with tears in his eyes and they got back in line.

The ponies watched with tears in their eyes as the marines raised their rifles and pointed them into the air.

"FIRE!" Dwayne yelled and they all fired three shots into the air. After that they lowered the bodies into the ground and buried them. After that john started crying and ran to the barracks, Emily and Jenna walked up to shining mumbling about food and the three made their way to the mess.

Celestia looked around at the remaining ponies that were all in tears and at Luna who looked like she was trying to be strong but soon the tears began leaking out she began to bawl quietly, finally she saw Dwayne looking at her. She flashed him a weak smile through her tear stained face.

"Dwayne" she said hugging him, he ran a hand through her mane and stroked her back.

"Celestia" he said pulling away from her and pulling out the black box that John had given him. "Will you marry me?" he asked opening it and revealing the small ring that John had given to Penelope.

All the ponies looked at the scene with astounded faces and gasped when Celestia flapped her wings once and tackled Dwayne to the ground.

"Oh yes, yes, yes!" She said planting kisses all over him. When she got off of him he placed the ring on her horn. It was smaller than the normal pony engagement ring so it only went a third of the way down her horn, but it looked beautiful nonetheless, really complemented by Celestia's white coat and other golden ornaments.

All the ponies around them 'Awww'ed and ran up to Celestia and barrage her with questions about the wedding. She mouthed to Dwayne for help but he simply grinned and turned away to head to the mess, as he passed the graves he took one last look at the places they were buried.

"I'm sorry, I should have fought harder." And he walked away to the mess.


	10. The Grand Galloping Catastrophe

Chapter 10 "The grand galloping catastrophe"

As Dwayne entered the mess hall he found Emily and Jenna talking to shining, they were eating salad and bread. When they saw him they waved him over, when he came closer he noticed how they looked worried.

"What's up?" he asked

"Dwayne, we brought shining here to talk about something very important…" Emily started

"What is it?" Dwayne asked getting worried

"Well...we've run out of…meat" Jenna said hanging her head. "So we told shining here because we didn't want the princesses to be… offended about this."

Dwayne looked at shining who seemed to be an odd shade of green; Dwayne assumed that he had just learned of humans' tendency to eat meat.

"So we were wondering if shining could hook us up." Emily continued

"Umm girls, if you haven't noticed he's about to throw up. And how would he be able to get his hands on meat anyway? He's a pony… their vegetarian." He said

"Oh yeah" they both said slightly embarrassed.

"Look I'm sure that I can get the princess to let us hunt in the forest, so long as we don't end up killing a pony we should be fine." Dwayne said smiling. Shining's cheeks puffed out and he ran out of the room towards the bathrooms.

"Oh he's soo cute" Emily said watching him run.

"Yeah but don't get too feisty, he's married." Dwayne laughed as he left the mess and headed to the showers. He needed a cold shower after today. When he finally reached the showers he stripped out of his armor and BDUs and hung them on a locker door.

Outside Celestia walked through the corridors wondering where her fiancée had gone, Ha, she would have to get used to that. She was about to go look for the girls who had gone to find John and hopefully comfort him. She was just passing the showers when she heard water running, she glanced into the room for a brief second but stopped when she saw Dwayne's armor hanging on a locker. As she looked an idea began to form in her head at the same time a smile began to spread on her face. She entered the bathroom and cast a spell that locked the door.

Dwayne had his eyes closed as the water ran down his face; he hummed at the soothing feel of the water running down his body. He heard some tapping; he turned to see Celestia with her hair, wet and hanging down over her face. She had a smirk on her face as she stood there and smiled at him.

"Umm Celestia what are you doing?" he asked

"Oh I thought I should get clean" she said moving closer to him. In the colony complex space was precious so they were cramped as it was, and with Celestia pressing up against him he had to press his back up against the wall.

"What if someone catches us?" He asked catching on to her drift.

"Oh… I don't think anyone will find us." She said pressing up against him.

"Oh boy" Dwayne said when he saw the look in her eye.

[Perspective change: mane 6]

"Where could he be" fluttershy asked, they had been looking for John for the past hour but they hadn't found him and now they only had one room left to check… the motor pool.

"Where is he!" dash yelled as she flew over them.

"Well we have one more room to check, don't lose hope." Twilight said as the pressed a button and opened the door. The room inside was creepy. It was dark, someone had turned the lights off and the only source of light left was the red emergency lights.

"Umm can we finish this, it's scary in here" rarity said.

The ponies listened but all they could hear was dripping water and the clinking of chains around the deserted room.

"What was that?" applejack said as they heard a small clatter.

Luna's horn began to glow and lit up the room with a dull glow. In this light they could see the still forms of the power loaders and the APC which had its door open. Inside they found a silent john; he had been crying for so long that he had no more tears to shed.

"John" fluttershy said shakily "are you ok?"

"I- I'm fine." He said shakily "I just need some time alone and I will be back to my old self in no time."

"a-alright" fluttershy replied as they turned and began to leave.

"We should have a party" pinkie stated simply

"The grand galloping gala is coming up" Luna offered but pinkie stuck out her tongue and made throw up noises.

"I mean a pinkie party!" pinkie said pulling cannon from nowhere.

"Pinkie don't you remember what Dwayne has to do… the gala is where he is going to meet the leaders and representatives of each kingdom, he has to make a good impression." Twilight said

"Why does he need to do this?" Rarity asked looking sad

"It's because some of the creature in these lands still believe that traditions should be upheld…No matter how uncouth." Luna said. She paused before adding hesitantly

"In fact some of you might be chosen to fight him."

All the ponies gasped and looked at each other.

"We could never fight him….And why us anyway?" applejack asked

"Because you are the elements of harmony" Luna said in a stoic voice. "You have saved equestria multiple times, and they will want the strongest ponies to represent them."

All the ponies couldn't argue with that, they were important after all.

Just then they saw Celestia enter the corridor, her mane was wet and she looked slightly dazed.

"Sister" Luna said "what were you doing?"

"Oh I just thought I would clean up." She replied putting on a winning smile and hoping that they would believe her.

"Alright then, I must go and prepare the grand galloping gala, sister I know you will want to help prepare but since we will be arranging some aspects of the competition you aren't allowed to come until the gala itself." Luna said as she walked out of a door and into the courtyard where a chariot was waiting.

As she left Celestia felt her heart sink, there was no rest for them, just one disaster to another. But still they had a week until everything was ready and she planned to make the most of it.

[6 days later]

The past week had been very enjoyable for the ponies and humans' alike. They had socialized and tried to learn as much as they could from each other. And of course in Celestia's case every night was…well… active. But now the gala was one day away and the humans were preparing to make their first mass public appearance yet so they were planning very hard.

The first thing Celestia told them was that they had to be kind, because a horrid pony (or in this case person) would never be accepted as a prince of equestria. Second they had to appear imposing and tough, so basically a brute display of force (which happened to be one of the marine's specialties) so as not to be thought of as weak. And lastly they had to be well mannered and civilized, this would gain them favor in the eyes of the different kingdoms.

When they had understood the purpose the marines would serve the ponies were curious as to what they were planning but the humans simply smiled when they asked and went off to do something else. It was starting to get irritating as the night drew closer.

And now, on the night of the gala the ponies were all dressed up and waiting for the humans, Luna and the cutie mark crusaders had even showed up to escort them to the gala. The humans on the other hand would arrive on their own when the rest of the kingdoms' representatives' arrived.

"urgh! I hate the gala!" pinkie moaned as they arrived at the palace and went inside to wait for the representatives'

"I do too but we have to do this… at least it won't be dull this year." Celestia said with a worried smile.

Luna noticed her worried expression and moved closer so that none of the rich, upper class ponies could hear "Tia, are you worried about Dwayne?" She simply nodded in response. Luna sighed and put a wing around her sister and told her not to worry about it, after all they were adults and fully understood the situation.

"Hey sweetie belle" applebloom whispered "should we try to get our cutie marks while we're here."

"NO!" she whispered back "this is too important for us to mess up."

"Shush now" applejack said "here come the first representatives"

And indeed after some more rich ponies entered they saw a zebra flanked by two guards wielding spears and thick cloth shields with patterns on them. They all had gold ornaments of some kind on as well as winning smiles…. At least the leader did.

"Celestia!" the zebra mare called out in joy running up and hugging Celestia "my, my it's been awhile since I set foot on these tiles!"

"Oh Shamene it's been ages!" Celestia replied as she embraced the zebra.

"You two know each other?!" twilight asked, slightly shocked at the familiar greeting.

"Why yes" replied Celestia "young Shamene here came to chanterlot to be educated."

"Ah yes, learning with you was the best." She replied brightly "so what's this I hear about a human being near."

"Well…" and Celestia explained the entire situation to the zebra leader. Meanwhile the rest of the ponies are looking at the rest of the guests that were beginning to enter. There were two representatives from the dragon kingdom, they ponies recognized one of them as the dragon that had tried to make spike break a phoenix egg. Behind them was….. Queen Chrysalis! The ponies immediately tensed ready for a fight but lowered their guard when she smiled and waved at them.

"Why is she here!?" rainbow asked angrily

"Well the changelings do have a kingdom soo they have every right to be here… but they are only allowed two guards." Luna said the last part a little louder making Queen Chrysalis wave a hoof in the direction of two stallions who flanked her on either side and changed back into changelings.

Behind her was the last representative that wasn't a pony… the griffon king, flanked by two mean looking griffons in armor.

Luna remembered something she had heard about him and walked up to princess Celestia who had just finished talking with Shamene.

"Sister, is it true that the griffon king is…..slightly…..infatuated with you?" Luna asked timidly.

Celestia looked taken aback for a moment before she laughed quietly "yes I suppose he is, he is so full of himself though. More of a brute than a king, I would never consider something other than political relations with him… I wonder if that's why he looks so angry." She laughed again "I wish I could have seen his expression when he found out that I loved another… Dwayne is going to have his work cut out for him. "

Celestia then turned to the dragon representatives; the older looking one bowed to her and kissed her hoof.

"Celestia it's been too long." He said in a tired old and happy voice

"Ah Ragnarock, it's good to see you again." She said

"I am so happy to hear that you have finally after all these years found a special somepony." He smiled then turned to the other dragon (the one who tried to get spike to smash the egg) and introduced him "this is my great grandson." He said in a slightly disappointed voice as if he were ashamed. The other dragon didn't even greet the princess much less bow to her and they simply walked away.

"Well that was interesting" rarity said but was cut off when they heard an all too familiar laugh

"Why, hello Celestia! It seems you missed me or you wouldn't have asked me back so soon."

"Hello Chrysalis" Celestia said in her motherly voice making it seem that the events of the wedding had been forgotten. They exchanged tense pleasantries for a while before they seemed to loosen up. And before anypony knew it they were chatting about being rulers, work and weddings like school fillies.

"Well it seems I misjudged you Celestia…" Chrysalis said when they stopped chuckling "but don't think I will go easy on your little 'fiancée' in fact I may just go a little harder on him now." Celestia smiled and let the queen and her guards enter the main ball room.

And the ponies turned to greet the last representative to arrive…The griffon king.

"Celestia" he said curtly

"King Skylar" she said with a small smile that seemed to soften him up a little, but that was short lived when the scowl returned to his face.

"So where is this 'fiancée' you have chosen?" he spat out the word fiancée like it was poison, Luna and the mane six noticed princess Celestia's eyes narrow slightly before she replied through gritted teeth "he will be arriving soon."

King Skylar grunted and moved into the ballroom. Celestia sighed and the girls followed him in.

[Perspective change: Dwayne Ripley and the marines]

Dwayne shifted uncomfortably in his uniform. For this occasion Emily and Jenna had insisted that he wear the most formal of naval uniforms…That of a captain. He had no idea where they got it but when he asked Jenna smiled and said "oh just an ex-boyfriend I played a prank on." Dwayne shrugged it off and looked at himself in the wall length mirror in his room. He was dressed all in white with gold and black finish (if you want to know what it looks like exactly look up 'lord hood halo' on Google images, the uniform looks exactly like that) he looked at his arm where the colonial marine logo used to be, Emily who happened to be quite the seamstress had removed it and replaced it with Celestia's sun and on the other arm sat Luna's moon. He smiled and thought of the look on everyponys face when they made their entrance.

"Dwayne let's go!" came John's voice

Dwayne sighed, opened the door and moved outside to meet the rest of the squad. They were all dressed in their normal combat uniforms but with one small difference… they were clean. So clean in fact that they would have made the sarge proud, each of them was holding their weapon freshly cleaned and they had sewn the equestrian flag under the colonial marine logo.

"Just to be clear we are only going to be this neat because of your wedding and we will only behave like you're body-guards because we like you." John said smiling. They all laughed nervously and got into the APC, save Jenna who went to pilot the drop ship, she lowered the ramp and picked up the APC before heading to chanterlot.

Inside the APC Dwayne was quiet, john and Emily were laughing at his discomfort.

"Calm down Dwayne!" Emily piped up "the princess already said yes all you have to do is make a good impression!"

"Yeah" Dwayne said with a nervous laugh. Then Jenna started talking through the radio.

"**Right, we're nearly there… get ready to put the plan in motion… starting soundtrack…."**

"Oh man, oh man, oh man….." Dwayne started before Emily slapped him "thanks" he replied.

[Perspective change: princesses and the other guests.]

Celestia and Luna were getting worried, they were waiting in the palace gardens with everypony else just like Dwayne asked.

"Where are they?" rainbow asked impatiently

"They'll be here sugar cube just be patient." Applejack smiled.

"Yeah I'm sure they'll turn up" twilight said.

Skylar leaned uncomfortably close to Celestia "so Celestia I see you have chosen a reliable husband" he said with a sneer.

She smiled and leaned away from him and looked for somepony to save her from the situation.

"So Celestia…" Shamene said noticing her situation "where is this human I hear likes to disappear."

"Well the first thing he will have to do is make a big entrance to demonstrate their military power…" She said but was interrupted quite rudely by the dragon.

"Power, Ha-ha! You ponies are so lame! Whoever and whatever this guy is he can't be as powerful as us. Dragons rule!" the red dragon said

"Silence!" Ragnarock yelled "You will show respect to the princess!" but the younger red one simply ignored him.

They were about to continue when they heard music…. rock music, but they couldn't find where it was coming from. It was steadily getting louder and the guards were getting nervous. Then they looked up and saw a big green metal flying machine heading toward them at an alarming rate. The ponies immediately recognized it but the representatives were scared and their guards were moving to protect them from any threat.

"Settle down my friends" Luna said smiling

"SETTLE DOWN!" king Skylar screamed "WHAT IS THAT THING!"

Celestia without looking back simply said "it's my husband."

The music blaring over the drop ships speakers (think of whatever rock music you like and think would suit this situation) was loud enough to be heard over the drop ships thrusters and could be heard all over chanterlot. The drop ship came down at an alarming rate as three hydraulic legs extended and the ramp opened to reveal the APC which roared to life and drove towards the ponies before skidding to a halt as the drop ship took off again.

It stopped a few meters from them and the door opened to a sight that made everypony gasp, Dwayne was standing, head held high with his hands clasped behind his back in a uniform that matched Celestia's coat exactly.

"Oh my!" Rarity gasped at his attire "it's so dashing and debonair; I must be allowed to see more human designs!"

Behind him were Emily and John, holding pulse rifles to their chests with absolutely blank faces. Then the drop ship did a fly-by and deployed its flares making a star-like pattern in the sky. Then the music stopped, the drop ship landed and Dwayne and his 'guards' moved forward.

When Dwayne was close to Celestia and the rest of the girls he whispered "too much?"

"That…was… AWESOME!" rainbow yelled pumping the air with her hoof.

Dwayne chuckled "I did say that we could handle a display of force." He then turned back to Celestia looking nervous "now what."

"Now you meet the kingdoms leaders….be nice." She replied

Dwayne smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek making her blush and making king Skylar clench his talons.

Dwayne walked up to Queen Chrysalis, who was closest, and kissed her hoof. "It's an honor to make you're acquaintance ma'am my name is Pvt. Dwayne Ripley, colonial marine until recently stationed aboard the now a member of the H.O.P.E colony here in equestria."

Queen Chrysalis looked shocked for a moment but quickly regained her composure "my, my so polite, I can see what Celestia sees in you… so much love, just to taste it…" she said the last part in a hungry voice.

Dwayne then turned to the dragons who were wearing different expressions; the older one looked amused while the other seemed to be in a state of shock.

"Umm… pleased to meet you." He said bowing to the older one who he assumed was the leader.

"Oh it's an honor to meet you too!" Ragnarock said happily "I am intrigued by your technology; Celestia didn't tell us that it was this advanced." They chatted for a while and Dwayne noticed the younger one looking at him angrily, he wondered briefly what he had done but dismissed it as they began to re-enter the palace, each leader flanked by his two guards.

While he was walking he caught up to the zebra representatives.

"Excuse me" he said, the zebras immediately pricked up and the guards tightened their grip on their spears.

"Hello human." Shamene said coldly

Dwayne sighed and said "look I know you are weary of humans, and the fact that we are armed soldiers makes it even more awkward but….if we really wanted to hurt anypony here then why did we risk our lives trying to defend them, and in one case marry them."

Shamene seemed to mull this over so Dwayne decided to give her more reason to trust him.

"I already have one zebra friend, maybe you know her…Zecora, she hated me at first but when she saw how we fought for the ponies I proved that we came with good intentions and she became my friend."

Shamene looked at him and smiled "you really do love these pony folk and that is no joke."

"Yes, all of us do." He replied

They chatted a little about what the zebra kingdom is like and what they liked to do while the guards sized themselves up against the marines.

After about an hour of establishing good relations with the zebras they decided to talk to the last kingdom… the griffins.

"Good evening sir" Dwayne said approaching the king, who looked at him coldly and didn't return the greeting.

"Well what's your name?" he asked again hoping for a response.

"King Skylar, but you will address me as my lord." He said.

Dwayne was beginning to feel uncomfortable, it was obvious that this Skylar guy didn't like him and he wanted to know why.

"Well SIR I am afraid that I don't use that title, it shows submission… but if you like I could call you your majesty or something like that…" Dwayne said with a polite smile. He didn't intend to be malicious with that comment; he just wanted to show that he wouldn't submit to anyone, save Celestia and Luna.

King Skylar growled at the human, he wasn't used to someone disobeying him no matter how quaint the subject. "You dare speak to me like that you APE!" he yelled at the top of his lungs making everypony in the room turn to them. The rest of the ponies looked alarmed and the guards began edging towards them.

Dwayne and the marines that flanked him remained unfazed as he yelled but the soft *click* of the safeties on the pulse rifles told Dwayne that his 'guards' were ready for the worst.

"Hey, hey, hey… let's not make a scene here, we come on peaceful terms" Dwayne started but he was cut off by king Skylar again.

"Silence!" He bellowed "guards seize him and give him a hundred lashes for his insolence!"

The griffin guards drew their swords and began to move forward but they were blocked by two olive green figures.

"Oh I don't think so" Emily said as she raised her pulse rifle. The guards seemed to hesitate but the screams of their king egged them on.

"Hey buddy!" john yelled at the guard closet to him "see this" he said pointing at his chest plate where many notches were scratched into the armor and below them he had scratched the words 'LoSt cOuNT'

"You feel like becoming one of them?" john inquired. The griffon gulped and backed down realizing that each notch stood for a life taken.

"What's going on here?" came Luna's voice. They turned and saw her and Celestia frowning at them.

"Celestia how could you choose this…this thing over me!" he screamed, completely lost in his own rage.

Dwayne realizing the situation apologized to the king so that he would stop yelling and embarrassing the princess and with a smile walked up to Celestia, said sorry and kissed her. While he was kissing her he was flipping of the king behind her back. He didn't understand what it meant but he could tell by the marines stifled laughs that it was an intended insult.

Celestia finally pushed Dwayne off of her and scolded him for kissing her with everyone watching, but she smiled a little while she did. This served only to infuriate king Skylar more and he stormed to his room with his guards in tow.

"Dwayne, that was reckless, you could have lost favor with the kingdoms" Celestia said. It was obvious to Dwayne that she was genuinely worried about this. But before he could apologize almost everypony in the room including the mane six, Shamene, Ragnarock and Chrysalis all began to speak up for him, supporting him saying things like "he didn't start it!" and "it was the Kings fault!"

Celestia sighed "well then, please, please" she implored "don't get into any more fights!"

Her voice coupled with the look on her face made it very clear to Dwayne that she was really concerned for him, he couldn't ignore that.

"I promise Celestia, no more fights." Felling ashamed that he let Celestia down, if only slightly.

"Well, I suggest that we retire sister. I will dismiss the remaining guests." Luna said trotting off.

"Twilight my faithful student could you take your friends to their rooms, guards escort the remaining representatives to their rooms as well."

All the remaining ponies trotted off for some much needed rest and Celestia turned to the humans who stood at attention. She smiled "well you have certainly proven that you are a force to be reckoned with."

They smiled and relaxed a little.

"Yeah, I just wish I could have gotten off to a better start with King Skylar."

"Dwayne, king Skylar has had what ponies call a 'crush' on me for as long as I can remember; I don't think you could have gotten off to a good start with him no matter what you did." Celestia said.

"Yeah man, take it easy" john said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright you guys call Jenna and return to H.O.P.E, get some rest and find some steaks for later, but we can't hunt anything that belongs to somepony. And no cows or mules, apparently they can talk and have personalities." Dwayne said

"You gotta be kidding me!" john said as he and Emily left for the drop ship

"Dwayne we're leaving you the APC in case you need to get back fast." Emily yelled as they exited.

Dwayne turned to Celestia "well lets go get some shuteye, I have to fight for you tomorrow." He said playfully.

"Urgh! Please don't remind me!" Celestia said annoyed "I really hate that you have to do this."

"Alright, let's go to bed and tomorrow over breakfast well know what I have to do." He said anticipating the worst.

"Come along them my little human, you get to stay in my private bedchamber." And they went off to sleep, but it was a troubled sleep and though they found comfort in each other's arms the idea of what was to come filled their dreams with nightmares. So they cuddled up to one another and hoped that Dwayne would come out victorious.


	11. weapons list: NOT A REAL CHAPTER

Chapter 11 [weapons list: NOT A REAL CHAPTER.]

**A/N this isn't really part of the story, but they are some weapons I created and will use later on. Here are the details of each weapon. If you want to use any of these weapons in your stories please PM me telling me which one you want to use and what your stories name is. Also please credit me for the weapon, just for the purpose of citation. :)**

**Generation 3 Lee Enfield Mk. XXXIII SMLE pulse/bolt action rifle:**

**Origin: **Enfield armory, UK, Earth.

**Ammo capacity**: 30 Rounds per magazine.

**Ammo type**: .303 rounds, multiple variations the most common of which are the-

'Hardened titanium round' which has been dubbed 'green mist' by troops because it has been known to dismember Xenomorphs with one shot. However this comes at a price, the rifle is heavy and long, and the hardened rounds add a lot more recoil. It is advised not to use hardened round in close quarters. Hardened rounds can only be used with the 'bolt' system which requires the bolt to be slid back after every shot.

The second most popular is the 'oxidizer' a round that has been filled with industrial strength oxidant; it neutralizes the acid in a Xenomorphs body almost instantly. This variation can be used with the fully automatic pulse system.

Finally the standard high explosive round, Similar in damage and properties to the ammunition used in pulse rifles.

**Description/history:** seven years before the colonial wars saw the return of the Lee Enfield rifle series, a newly developed weapon the Mk. XXXIII was modeled on the ancient by the descendants of the original creator. And the resemblance is uncanny, in fact the only difference is that the wood has been replaced by hardened carbon plastoid and it has red digital ammo readout on the left side of the rifle.

**Distinguishing characteristics**: 'snub' nose and an archaic looking bolt system.

**Drawbacks: **the rifle, though very effective is rather expensive (about 8000 dollars per rifle) and it is heavier that the standard rifles of the era. It is also longer than the average weapon, making maneuverability an issue in tight quarters. Also when using hardened rounds (which are the most commonly used for this rifle) it requires the bolt to be slid back, this small time delay offers a window in the fire rate which a xenomorph could easily take advantage of, but it makes up for that with an awesome level of firepower. Other than that it is a very effective killing machine.

**MSSPSH 1145 P.E.G.A.S.U.S handheld Anti-air missile:**

**Origin: **workman armory, American lunar industry.

**Ammo capacity: **X1 sledge-hammer high explosive rocket per tube.

**Ammo type: **sledge-hammer rockets, high explosive rockets with inbuilt smart A.I 'fire and forget' tracking systems.

**Description/history: **developed during the colonial wars the 1145 P.E.G.A.S.U.S Anti-air missile system was created to combat fast moving and incredibly maneuverable drones. The weapon is handheld and about 4.5 feet long, with a black tube the runs through a drum that contains and protects the missile. (Kind of like the SPnKr rocket launcher in halo but with one barrel.) However the most distinguishing factor is the missile itself, each one is its own smart A.I of almost problem solving intelligence, which can replicate its targets maneuvers 100% accurately making dodging impossible. It can also detect and avoid flares and chaff.

**Distinguishing characteristics**: drum at center of a long black tube, white letters on the side that say "** P.E.G.A.S.U.S".**

**Drawbacks: **the weapon is so effective at its job that the only draw backs are its impossible price tag (2,000,000 dollars) and its inability to lock on to ground targets.

**Mk.4 'REAPER' automated anti-air/ground defense system:**

**Origin: **Weyland-Yutani

**Ammo capacity: **100,000 20x102mm rounds

**Ammo type: **caseless electronically fused high explosive rounds.

**Description/history: **a six-barreled, pneumatically-driven, air-cooled weapon which fires 20x102mm caseless electronically fused high explosive rounds at a rate of up to 6,000 per minute. It is normally fed by a 100,000-round drum, though in some cases only a 1,000-round drum is attached

Reapers are typically networked as part of an automated tracking system or can also be manned by an operator using the control panel on the base of the emplacement.

Developed after the colonial wars the Reaper turret is one of the best automated defense weapons in existence and is relatively cheap considering its size and effectiveness.

**Distinguishing characteristics: **six barrels placed over the ammunition drum, which is held by a 'cradle' swivel system which allows 360 degree movement in any direction except directly down. Many also have some 'graffiti' on them thanks to the colonial marines that man them. For example "cupid" is commonly written on the side with a cartoon cupid firing a mini-gun from his bow.

**Drawbacks: **because of its size the Reaper needs an area of flat or vaguely flat, stable land to rest on, approx. 5X5 meters of space. It is also very heavy, weighing in at about seven tons without ammunition. Another thing is its ability to chew through ammunition like there is no tomorrow, going through 6000 rounds in about sixty seconds. Meaning it needs lots of ammunition. There have also been some reported cases (though very rare) when the AI has taken damage in battle and gone on what the marines colorfully dub the "grim reaper summer sale" which is when the turret, due to damage taken, locks onto anything and everything on the battle field, friend or foe, land or sky and utterly decimates them until it runs out of ammunition or is destroyed.

**No.6R Magnum pistol:**

**Origin: **UK/Australian international armorers, Earth

**Ammo capacity: **12 rounds

**Ammo type: **12.7x40mm M225 Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive

**Description/history: **the No.6R is a semi-automatic, recoil-operated, magazine-fed, large-bore handgun that is controllable even during rapid fire, although at the cost of accuracy. However this pistol has an X2 scope which can be accessed when wearing any form of HUD. It is the second most trusted combat pistol after the Weyland-Yutani series. It is very accurate, allowing for successful engagement at any range below 122.7 meters. It also does a considerable amount of damage against both shielded infantry and flesh, as it fires 12.7x40mm M225 SAP-HE rounds.

It is favored by those who do not trust Weyland-Yutani, and it has many features that make it a better pistol, however the company's influence has denied it a place as the standard issue among USCM personnel though it is widely acknowledged to be better.

When faced with Xenomorph enemies it is definitely an effective weapon, its semi-armor-piercing rounds are very capable of shredding warrior and drone armor. It has been confirmed that the No.6R is a one-shot kill even to Xenomorphs, though it needs to be a headshot.

**Distinguishing characteristics: **it is easily distinguishable because of its chrome finish and black grip. It's also one of the few pistols that take extended magazines. It also had a hunch or hood neat the tip of the barrel, which houses the scope capability. (similar to the M6D in Halo)

**Drawbacks: **Although the No.6R has many advantages, the weapon does have a few weaknesses. A person using the No.6R must be a good marksman with the No.6R, taking physics into account; projectiles have their own trajectories and as such are affected by user movements. The user must lead the target, as well as consider the small spread that is present when the pistol is fired. Although the pistol can hit a target at long ranges, it cannot kill, or even impact a target at a distance greater than 122.7 meters.

**M71/Caseless Submachine Gun AKA 'short stuff':**

**Origin: **Weyland-Yutani

**Ammo capacity: **130 rounds

**Ammo type: **5x23mm caseless ammunition, a radically different kind of ammunition than the kind found in other USCM weapons. This ammunition is classified as "caseless," meaning it does not have a metallic casing that holds together the bullet, propellant, and primer. Instead of using this casing, the round uses a combustible adhesive to seal these components together. Because the adhesive and propellant are both vaporized when fired, there is no need to eject spent casings.

**Description/history: **the M71 is dull, gunmetal grey and was developed for urban combat. It is small, often mistaken for a machine pistol which makes it popular in the field of concealed weapons. Because of its small and rather weak rounds the SMG is often duel-wielded, providing a 'curtain' of lead if you will. This ability to provide a large spread of projectiles makes it extremely effective against facehuggers and Swarmers.

**Distinguishing characteristics: **one of the few weapons where the magazine is inserted into the front of the gun and slid back above the barrel, making it look like a barrel attached to a grip and trigger with a rectangular black box above it.

**Drawbacks: **its main drawback is the fact that it is hopeless against and Xenomorphs larger than facehuggers and Swarmers due to the size of the round. It is ridiculously inaccurate and relatively weak.

**OMNI Section 3 No.7 Archive Module AKA 'black box':**

**Origin: **Earth/human/ exact creator unknown.

**Ammo capacity: **N/A

**Ammo type: **N/A

**Description/history: **the Section 3 No.7 Archive Module or 'black box' isused by the colonial marines 'office of military and naval intelligence' as a portable storage unit for hyper advanced AI computer systems that organize all operations possible on the battlefield as well as managing mega cities on earth. Though this is not technically a weapon it is a warship/mega city class AI equipped to handle everything from starting a war to ending it as well as managing a city if required, the military version also has a self-destruct system to be used in a last stand scenario, though this requires a human to physically activate it meaning the said person has to sacrifice themselves. The blast form this detonation is the equivalent to about ten times Hiroshima. It can also directly or indirectly access any computers around it, burn through their firewalls and control them without anyone being any the wiser. It is as dangerous as any army. It is completely unacceptable for one of these to be captured by the enemy and according to protocol the person in charge must activate the self-destruct mechanism if there is a threat of capture. The Section 3 No.7 Archive Module is so rare in fact that that they are of almost mythical status, they can't be replicated and only seven exist, though very few people know this. The level of power these computers command is terrifying.

**Distinguishing characteristics: **rectangular with slanted sides, black with gold strip at the top for direct connection. Has the words 'SECTION 3' written on the side as well as a larger silver '7'.

Length: 17 cm

Height: 21 cm

Width: 8.5 cm

**Drawbacks: **N/A this computer is so effective that it has no drawbacks… save how good or bad the things the person commanding it tells it to do.


	12. The Earth Ponies

Chapter 12 "the earth ponies"

**A/N ok I just discovered that the red dragons name is Garble…**

Dwayne awoke to the feeling of a cool breeze blowing through his hair. It made him smile and moan, he rolled over to find Celestia sitting on her stomach watching him with a small smile on her face.

"Good morning" he said propping himself up on his elbows.

Celestia chuckled "you know it's nearly ten o'clock, I asked for breakfast to be postponed a little so that you could sleep."

"You shouldn't have… what would the guests think?"

"Oh I don't think they mind… most of them are asleep as well." She replied with a smile

"Well let's go eat, I'm starving." He said moving to a small pile of his cloths and armor which had been brought up from the APC. He decided that he would only wear his boots, shin guards, combat trousers and an olive green shirt. No need to be as formal as last night. But he still didn't trust some of the so called 'guests' namely that young, red dragon called Garble and King Skylar. So he grabbed his combat knife and hooked its sheath onto his dog tags so he wore it like a necklace.

"Okay let's go." He said moving quickly to the door and stood waiting for Celestia.

She smiled "do you ever stop eating."

"No" he said with a shrug.

[Perspective change: rainbow dash]

Rainbow dash was flying outside Celestia's window watching how she watched him sleep. How she wished she could hug him the way Celestia did. When she saw Dwayne wake up she smiled at his behavior. She heard them talking and remembered that she needed to get to breakfast and flew away quickly to beat them to it.

When she got to the dining hall she found everypony except the representatives, Celestia and Dwayne already there.

"Hey Rainbow!" Twilight said walking up to her friend. "Where were you? We were starting to get worried."

"Oh nowhere, just flying practice" she said with what she hoped was a winning smile.

"Oh that's good, I'm sure you will get into the wonder bolts soon." Twilight said with a smile "oh and guess who showed up… Big Macintosh!"

"Really, why?" rainbow asked confused

"He wouldn't say… I think its kind suspicious." Twilight replied as they both walked over to the breakfast table and sat down with their friends.

"Ah already told you ah can't tell why I'm here." Big Mac was saying as Dwayne and Celestia walked into the room.

"Dwayne!" applejack yelled enthusiastically "come ere' and meet mah brother!"

Dwayne walked up to Big Mac and shook his hoof. They seemed to be sizing each other up; at least Big Mac seemed to be.

"It's great to meet you Big Mac! Any friend of applejacks is a friend of mine!" Dwayne said

Big Mac seemed saddened but smiled anyway "it sure is great to meet ya Dwayne; I've heard a lot about ya"

"Well that's great, come on tell me about farming here. I'm really curious." Dwayne said as they sat down on one end of the table and began talking about farming and sweet apple acres. Everypony else began talking to each other.

"Well they seem to be getting along fine." Rarity said

"Yes" Fluttershy said quietly smiling "do you think they will be friends."

"Yeah!" Pinkie said happily bouncing up and down then she gasped dramatically and turned to the princess "princess do you think I could plan the wedding party? Please, please, please!"

"Yes, yes!" laughed Celestia "I wouldn't have it any other way my little pony."

Pinkie seemed to coil up like a spring and jump into the air and start rambling about different party things. She suddenly jumped at Dwayne who was still listening to Big Mac intently and knocked him to the ground.

"Pinkie wh-" he couldn't finish as Pinkie shoved her hoof in his mouth.

"Remember when you pinkie promised to eat as much cake as me well…." She paused as she moved her head to his so that their eyes were almost touching and whispered "well…you still have to keep it." She said in a sing song voice.

Dwayne's eyes widened in fear as he remembered the last time he or rather she tried to keep that promise.

"Celestia...help." Dwayne whimpered, not looking away from Pinkie's bright, blue eyes.

Celestia remembered when Dwayne left her to deal with all her subjects when he first proposed to her… oh sweet revenge. She smiled and sat at the table to watch.

Big Mac smiled, they certainly made a great couple. But he quickly stopped when he remembered what he was here to do. He could only hope that they would forgive him, as if he had a choice in the matter.

Celestia was smiling when Twilight ran up to her and told her that the representatives were coming. Celestia turned quickly turned and saw all the leaders enter the room, she remembered that Dwayne was currently being assaulted by Pinkie and prepared herself for the embarrassment. But it never came, instead she heard Shamene begin giggling happily before she turned to speak to Celestia.

"He is like a little colt, harmless to pony folk" she said between giggles. It seemed that she had finally accepted humans into pony society.

"Hmmm… yes." Chrysalis said walking up next to Celestia "you certainly chose a kind husband, a pity there are none like him in my kingdom."

"Ha, what a wimp!" the snide Garble laughed

"At least he shows love to his subjects, a quality you could only hope to have!" Ragnarock said threateningly making the young red dragon growl and scowl at Dwayne who was laughing and rolling around with Pinkie.

King Skylar simply scoffed and whispered something to his guards to which they snickered and glared at the human.

Dwayne finally noticed and froze a look of severe embarrassment on his face. He quickly got up and smiled. "Umm… I was just… aww hell, I was having fun." He said giving up on excuses.

"It's alright; one must get to know ones subjects." Luna said walking up next to Twilight. "however I regret to say that it must end for a while because the first challenge will commence soon, Dwayne I will take you to the briefing room while everypony else gets to the stadium to watch."

With that Dwayne cast one last look at Celestia who smiled weakly in return as if to assure him that everything would be alright. Then Luna dragged him away into a deeper part of the palace, he swore that she was taking him to the dungeons until they stopped in a room filled with weapons from the APC. And in the middle of the room his armor rested on a blanket, neatly laid out for him.

"Dwayne you have half an hour to get dressed and prepare for whatever the earth ponies have in store for you, I can't tell you more that it is a test of your physical strength. Also all your weapons have been altered with the help of your friends, I believe they are all loaded with tranquilizing spells." Luna said as she left, but before she closed the door she looked at him and said "Dwayne… good luck."

"Thanks" he replied as he got to work putting on his armor. When he had it all on he looked at the array of weapons and decided that he would only take his shotgun, it was unlikely that the ponies would actually try to hurt him. So he loaded up on shells and stood in front of the door that led to his first challenge.

He could hear the ponies cheering on the other side and Celestia's faint voice giving a speech, though he couldn't make out what she was saying. Suddenly the din stopped and the doors opened and Dwayne found himself in an….. Apple orchard? It was sweet apple acres, but how?

"Weird friggin' magic." He said to himself.

He walked forward and noticed all the ponies sitting in an elevated seating area, Celestia and the others were in what looked like a private box. He couldn't help but notice the similarity between this and gladiators in ancient Rome.

Dwayne drew his shotgun and moved forward into the orchard. He paused when he heard a rustling and saw big mac step in front of him wearing royal guard armor.

"Big Mac?!" Dwayne said "what are you doing here, are you here to help me?" he asked lowering his shotgun and moving up to stand in front of him .

"Nope" he said in his normal stoic voice before suddenly turning and bucking Dwayne so hard that he flew back and hit a tree causing all the apples to fall out of it.

"Goddamn" Dwayne said rubbing his head "why didn't I see that coming." He noticed Big Mac moving towards him and he looked for his shotgun but it had disappeared. "Oh shit" he said when big mac reached him. The large red pony grabbed Dwayne's collar and rammed him into the tree causing him to lose all the air in his lungs.

Dwayne kicked out and hit Big Mac in the face making him stumble back. Dwayne pushed himself onto his feet and moved into the trees trying to get away from Big Mac who was following him with a frown on his face as well as a bleeding nose.

"Come on!" Dwayne yelled dropping into a combat stance.

Beg mac tried to punch with his fore hooves but Dwayne blocked and counter punched. Big Mac then started to buck Dwayne again. Dwayne made his first mistake when he tried to block the buck with his armored shin… the result was a screaming Dwayne hopping about on one foot while muttering curses.

He tried to punch but the big pony's armor simply absorbed every hit; it was like trying to kill a tank with a rock.

Dwayne looked around; he had decided the best thing to do would be to run. Run and hope he could find something to beat this guy. As he ran he could hear some ponies and especially griffons laughing at him, but he couldn't let that bother him. He was a colonial marine! The ultimate bad-asses! He took a calming breath and looked around. All he saw were apple trees, grass and dirt.

[Four hours of brutal fist fighting later…]

Dwayne had been switching between running and fighting for the past four hours and he was starting to get exhausted, but the big farmhand wasn't. His daily routine ensured that he could take this kind of punishment.

"Ah, crap." He muttered taking stock of all his gear. This consisted of his motion tracker and shotgun shells. He was about to leave and keep running when he saw a long stick that at some point had dislodged itself from a tree, he was about to keep moving when he remembered his shotgun shells and he came up with an idea. He grabbed the stick and unbuckled the strap from the motion tracker. He used the strap to attach a shell loaded with tranquillizing pellets to the end of the stick.

"Come on, come on…." Dwayne muttered as he climbed into an apple tree and crouched on a branch.

"Where are ya!" Big Mac yelled as he came closer and closer to Dwayne's hiding place. Dwayne waited until he was right below him and jumped down onto him.

"Yyyyyaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" he screamed letting his animalistic rage take over, as he knocked the big red pony down and swiped his face with the end of the stick, dazing him. But Dwayne saw what he wanted, the small gap between the armor plates where the leg met the rest of the pony. He turned the stick and hit big mac with the shell, the stick acted like a firing pin and blasted big mac with tranquilizer making him go limp. He realized that his scream coupled with the brutality of how he took out Big Mac, would make him look like a bad, evil… animal.

He stood up and noticed the silence, as he looked at the stands he saw the horrified look on everyponys face.

"h-he's a monster!" one mare screamed.

Dwayne looked around at the growing yells of anger from the crowd.

"What did I do wrong?" he yelled making everypony go quiet.

"Ahem" Luna cleared her throat loud enough for everypony to hear "I…. may have forgotten to tell everypony that Dwayne's weapons are meant only to stun." And with that she rose from her sitting position and her horn glowed. Big Mac suddenly rose and gasped. All the ponies in the stands let out a sigh of relief, before looking apologetically at Dwayne and getting up to leave.

"wha-what happened?" he said as Dwayne supported him.

"Hey it's okay big guy it's over. You put up one hell of a fight!" Dwayne said happily.

"Ah am so sorry" Big Mac started "they told me to come ere and…."

"Big mac…" Dwayne said, a smile on his face "It's okay, you did what you had to do and you should take pride in that you did it well."

Big Mac smiled back "you deserve the princess's love" he said.

"Thanks…. But let's ask her ourselves" he said as he noticed the princesses and the rest of the mane six come towards them grinning.

"Good job Dwayne!" Twilight said running up and hugging him.

"Ah hope you don't hold this against mah family…" Applejack said looking at her hooves.

"We've already made up." Dwayne said ruffling her mane.

He turned to Celestia and Luna who were smiling.

"Well done Dwayne" Celestia said with a smile. "Now you can rest until the next challenge."

Dwayne rubbed his sore muscles and stretched "I think I need a shower and a bed" he said.

Celestia smiled at him before turning to the representatives "please excuse us; we will see you at dinner."

"WE! Why we?" king Skylar asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow "where are you going?"

"Well" Celestia said blushing a little "I was going to spend some time with-"

"With that APE!" the king yelled

"Hush now king Skylar!" Shamene said angrily "the mare has every right to spend time with her future husband."

King Skylar huffed angrily and was about to yell again when he felt something bump into him from behind.

"Ah think y'all should leave" king Skylar turned and looked up at the glaring face of Big Mac, still in the dented royal guard armor.

"I-I…..d-disrespectful fools! You will see in the next few days he will fail and show all equestria how incompetent his…. Kind really is!" and he stormed off, his guards in hot pursuit.

"I have to apologize for his behavior. I think he is getting a little jealous." Ragnarock said walking up next to Dwayne and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, just a little…" Dwayne said sarcastically. "But now I want to get some rest." He said turning to Celestia smiling.

"Very well. Good day my friends." Celestia said to the other ponies as her horn started to glow and she and Dwayne disappeared and reappeared in Celestia's bedchamber.

"Okay I need a shower." Dwayne said walking towards the shower room, removing most of his armor before he got there.

Celestia hummed to herself as she removed all of her golden ornaments and went to rest on the bed, waiting for Dwayne to finish his shower.

"Oh boy that felt great, your shower is awesome." He said coming out of the shower with his boxer shorts on and the rest of his armor and uniform in his hands.

"Dwayne you did well today" Celestia said as Dwayne lay down beside her and put an arm around her as she laid her head on his chest.

"It's going to get harder though isn't it?" He said closing his eyes and slowly letting sleep take him.

Celestia smiled and tried to take a nap as well but she was disturbed by a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" she called out

"Sister it's me and our friends" Luna called from the other side of the door.

"Come in!" Celestia called happily but quietly so as not to wake Dwayne.

They all came in and 'Awww'ed at the sight.

"Oh my, He looks so calm." Rarity said

"Yes" fluttershy whispered "we should let him sleep."

"Alright but princess remember that lunch is in a few minutes." Twilight said smiling

"Alright, we'll be there in a few minutes." Celestia said as the ponies all left and she put her head back on Dwayne's chest slowly falling asleep.

[Fifteen minutes later.]

Dwayne was running. He was running down a large knoll on the top of a hill covered in tall grass and wheat. The ground under his feet was dry, brown and unfertile. The only trees around were saplings and olive trees. Ahead he could see smoke and the bodies of many ponies and griffons. He could only hear the same words going over and over on his radio… "BROKEN ARROW! I say again BROKEN ARROW!******Dwayne get out-****" then everything turned to fire, fire that ate all the flesh from his body the way only napalm could.

Suddenly he jolted awake, breathing hard and looking around at Celestia room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Celestia head resting on his chest. Absent mindedly he began to stroke her mane thinking what that horrible dream could have been. He finally dismissed it as stress as he began to nudge Celestia awake.

"Not now sister, I will raise the sun later…" she moaned in her sleep as he prodded her harder.

"What, what is it?" she asked wearily as she looked around getting her bearings. She then spotted Dwayne smiling at her.

"You really need to lighten up a little princess. Take a vacation." Dwayne said

"But I just had one…" she said

"I mean a vacation where you relax and don't make contact with a highly advanced, destructive race and get chased by xenomorphs." He said raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm…. That sounds divine." She hummed snuggling up to him for more warmth but she suddenly got up "oh dear we are late for lunch!"

"Wha..." Dwayne started before his trousers, surrounded by a golden aura, roughly forced their way onto his legs. "Oh! Celestia you could have just asked."

"Quickly!" she insisted waiting for him by the door. When he was finally ready they departed for the dining hall.

[Perspective change: King Skylar's room.]

"What do you mean they aren't ready!" the king whispered angrily at the messenger so as not to be heard.

"Your highness, the… creatures are very unstable. They keep trying to escape and we are forced to kill them... at the expense of our soldiers' lives." Messenger said, fearing the consequences if he said something that would anger the king.

"Huh, will they be ready for the challenge?" he asked rubbing his eyes with his claw.

"I-I am sorry your majesty… but it will take time for us to breed more of these creatures you desire." The messenger said.

"Very well" the king said walking up to a window and looking over the beautiful city of chanterlot. "Then it seems that I will have to resort to more original tactics."

"Your highness…you cannot mean…."

"Yes I do, once I have successfully disposed of that ape we go through with operation broken heart." The king said turning "prepare the military; if this 'Dwayne' succeeds then we will need it."

"And what of the captured ponies that we use for the creatures breeding?" the messenger asked, shocked at what the king planned to go through. "Do we take prisoners?"

"…no… kill them all… and soon they will stop coming." The king said smiling evilly.

[Perspective change: Dining hall]

In the dining hall everypony was gathering for a good meal courtesy of the marines, who had discovered a rather large store of food from earth. But the thing is that not every pony knew that it was human food being served up, just Celestia, Luna and the humans.

"Well then now that we are all here" Luna said shooting a playful glare at her sister "we can eat." And with that the doors to the kitchen flew open and waiters entered with silver trays on their backs. On the trays was a delicious mixture of everything a person or pony could ever eat. But to Dwayne displeasure there was no meat.

"So Dwayne" applejack said when they were all stuffing themselves "what do ya think about Equestria so far."

"Well… I will admit that we all feel a little homesick but this place is amazing." Then he looked at Celestia "And if you gave me a choice I would stay here."

She mouthed a quick thank you before turning to chat with twilight about her studies. The rest of the evening went by rather quickly after that. Dwayne socialized with all his friends and talked to Shamene, then to chrysalis.

"And that's why we need love to survive." She had just finished explaining to Dwayne why changelings needed love to stay alive.

"Ok- I guess… just please don't do it again." He said

She smiled at him "no promises."

"So who goes next" Dwayne asked Luna when he got her attention.

"Next it's the changelings." She said "then you will be challenged by the pegasi."

"Oh really" he said turning back to Chrysalis "so what do you have in store for me."

"Oh let's just say that it's a little payback that makes me even with Celestia for what happened at the wedding." She said winking at Celestia.

Celestia looked less than amused "Chrysalis… if you want payback take it out on me and not my future husband."

"Oh come on Celestia, it's a joke. Though don't expect me to go easy on him." She said laughing, at firs Celestia tried to keep a straight face but soon let loose a chuckle.

"Well I see that you have become fast friends." Rarity said looking at Chrysalis and Celestia who had started conversing "who would have known, a month ago you were at each other's throats."

"Yes, well we should have gotten to know each other before we did that." Chrysalis said

"And she did what she had to do for her subjects, they were starving and she did what she had to do to save them."

Later on king Skylar was glaring at Dwayne who had an arm around Celestia, at first he was content to just imagine killing and humiliating Dwayne in all sorts of manners while he stood laughing with Celestia at his side. But when he saw Celestia's wings flare a little bit when Dwayne rubbed the spot between them it was the last straw. That monkey was giving Celestia a 'wingboner' for lack of a better word. And what was worse was that seemed to be enjoying it!

"That's it." He said walking to one of his guards "we are moving operation broken heart to tomorrow, no more waiting."

"Yes sire." The guard said as he flew away.

King Skylar turned to the red dragon and whispered "Garble it's time to put the plan into action."

The dragon nodded and walked off down a corridor.

Just then Celestia and Luna stood up and cleared their throats "alright everypony its time to go to sleep." They said as everypony rose and began to leave.

Celestia walked to the door and waited for Dwayne who signaled for her to wait. Dwayne walked up to Princess Luna who was about to leave through another door.

"Princess Luna… umm Luna!" he called out to her. She turned to face him with a small smile.

"Yes Dwayne."

"I just wanted to thank you for this beautiful night." He said simply.

For a moment Dwayne thought Luna was going to explode, she looked at him incredulously for a whole minute before tackling him with a hug.

"Dwayne… thank you so much, only twilight and her friends have ever thanked me for my nights." She said tearing up.

"Hey now" Dwayne said laughing "you're making your sister jealous"

They got up off of the ground and Luna went off to watch over the night and Dwayne went over to Celestia who was still waiting.

"It's nice to see that my sister is final starting to realize that ponies don't shun her." Celestia said as they started walking back to her room.

"Yeah, I don't understand how some ponies could under appreciate what your sister does." He said as they finally got to her room.

"Hmmm… now let's go to bed" she said pushing him down onto the soft mattress. "Dwayne" she said cuddling up to him "tomorrow, the changelings will attack you mentally just as much as physically, be careful."

"Hey, come on… it's me…" he said in mock cockiness.

"Dwayne… go to bed" Celestia said wrapping her mane legs around him.


	13. Two Betrayals

Chapter 13 "two betrayals"

The next morning Dwayne sat at a very quiet table. Everypony was glancing at him, they knew firsthand what the changelings were capable of.

"So…. How is everypony?" Dwayne asked desperately trying to start a conversation and end the awkward silence that filled the room.

"We're well" rarity said putting on a fake smile.

Then a guard walked into the room "your majesties" he said bowing to Princess Luna and Celestia. "It's nearly time."

Dwayne glanced at the worried expressions around the room before finally looking at Chrysalis and nodding "let's go do what we came here to do."

Dwayne was walking with the rest of the ponies and the representatives into the deepest part of the palace, they had been walking for so long that Dwayne had begun to wonder if this was the challenge itself. He was considering hitting king Skylar for two equally important reasons, first to see whether or not this was all a changeling trick and second…Was because he hated the smug grin on his face. Though Dwayne never thought to consider why he was smiling.

[Perspective change: King Skylar]

King Skylar was very happy; his plans were all coming together perfectly. He knew that the human wouldn't escape from this alive but he would have Celestia and equestria all to himself. Garble had done as he asked but he had no concept of the true scale of what was happening. It had taken quite a spy to actually spy on changelings, considering what they were, but he had discovered what they were planning and how to kill Dwayne and by the time they knew what was happening he would have already won.

He noticed Dwayne frowning at him from the corner of his eye as the finally reached the door to his next challenge. He smiled and waved as Dwayne walked up to the door.

[Perspective change: Pvt. Ripley. D]

Dwayne saw that idiot of a king smiling at him so he glared back as they reached the large black door. Dwayne looked at Celestia and all his other friends and the nodded encouragingly. He was about to open it when he saw king Skylar waving tauntingly at him. A smile crossed Dwayne's face as he turned quickly and kissed Celestia full on the lips. Dwayne was content when he saw the kings smile diminish and was replaced by gritted teeth and a scowl.

"Mmm….Dwayne!" Celestia scolded him, pushing him away. Then she whispered in his ear "not here."

With this encouragement Dwayne pushed the door open and walked through to greet the challenge that Chrysalis had prepared for him. He was shocked when he saw that he was in a cave filled with crystals of some sort, in front of him he saw a clear pool that was so still and serene that if you didn't look carefully you could have thought it was just another crystal.

"What have we here?" Dwayne said to himself looking into the pool. He saw his reflection in the water and was about to dismiss it when he though he saw something. He looked more carefully at his reflection, it mimicked every move he made, but as he was no less than six inches from the water he noticed it… wink at him!

"What the Fu…" Dwayne started but was silenced by a fist connecting with his jaw. Dwayne stumbled back a few steps before he looked at himself rise from the water and drop into a fighting stance.

"Seriously" he said as he lunged forward catching the changeling by surprise and knocking him out. When the changeling fell it changed back into its true form. Dwayne looked up and saw a crowd of ponies even larger than last time sitting in seats carved directly into the crystals themselves with a thick crystal window between them and the arena.

But Dwayne didn't have time to brood on that as he noticed more changelings appear from behind crystals, taking the form of the mane six. Dwayne set to work dispatching the enemies, which was easy considering that they were all about four foot tall.

[Perspective change: Queen Chrysalis]

"Urgh! They are so hopeless!" Chrysalis ranted as she watched Dwayne easily dispatch her finest troops.

"Is this what you meant by a 'challenge'" Celestia said smirking

Chrysalis frowned before an idea hit her "oh no, this is just the beginning!" she then disappeared in a roar of green flames. The ponies were left to wonder where she was going and what she had in mind.

"No…." Celestia whispered when she realized where she could have gone.

[Perspective change: Pvt. Ripley. D]

Dwayne was grinning as he shot the last changeling with his pistol.

"Nighty night" he said as it fell into unconsciousness. They hadn't really put up much of a fight, in fact he thought this was too easy.

"Dwayne" a voice said behind him.

Dwayne spun with his pistol drawn and he was surprised that it was leveled at Celestia.

"Jeez Celestia, I could have shot you!" he said indignantly lowering his pistol.

"Yes, well the competitions over" she said. He really had no idea that it was really Chrysalis.

Dwayne walked up and hugged her, all she could feel emanating from him was love and it was so enticing that she had a brilliant idea. She would drain him until he passed out like all the ponies she had drained before him. He would recover in a few hours and she would regain her honor and get a tasty snack while she was at it. But as she began draining him she felt something odd. The love instead of leaving him empty had revealed something darker… pure hate, fear and general decay.

"Oh no!" she said as she let go of Dwayne and he slumped down onto the floor. "Dwayne I'm sorry… are you all right…" she trailed off as Dwayne rose, revealing bloodshot eyes, the irises fully dilated with tears running down his cheeks. He was deathly pale and regarded his hands with a slightly amused expression.

"w-what are you…" Chrysalis said backing away and turning back to her true form.

"I am sickness" Dwayne said "it seems all that was good has died and is decaying in me."

Suddenly Dwayne slapped Chrysalis so hard that she fell over. She stood with tears in her eyes and teleported back to the stands.

[Back in the stands]

Celestia and the rest of the ponies were looking in shock at what had just transpired. They couldn't believe that Dwayne would hurt anypony like that. They all snapped out of their thoughts when Chrysalis appeared next to them still with tears in her eyes.

"Chrysalis, what did you do!" twilight said

"I-I didn't know, it seems that unlike ponies humans have enough hate and violence in them that when their love is absorbed the hate is strong enough to actually take over." Chrysalis said.

"What can we do then?" rarity said

"Oh no! Dwayne is gonna' be a big meanie pants!" pinkie said a shocked look on her face.

"There is hope" Chrysalis said "I didn't completely drain him. We just need to bring enough love back that he can overcome the hate.

"Then why don't we give him a love potion…." Fluttershy said cowering behind her mane.

"That should work… but how can we get him to take it." Chrysalis said

"Hey why doesn't the princess distract him?" Applejack suggested.

"Very well, but…" Luna started but they heard a loud resounding banging from behind them. The ponies turned to see Dwayne more horrifying than before, his eyes had become even more bloodshot and the blood vessels on his neck, arms and face had turned black.

"Let me in…" he said in a dark voice.

"Dwayne you know I can't do that." Celestia said then she turned to Luna "get these ponies out of here."

"…then I'm coming in" he said as he began to smash the butt of his pistol against the crystal, when it broke he used his fists which began to bleed but it was working and the crystal had begun to crack.

"Oh no, what do we do!" rainbow screamed.

Finally the crystal cracked and Dwayne entered the now partially empty stands.

"BOO!" Dwayne said smiling evilly.

"AAH!" the little ponies screamed hiding behind the princess and the other representatives.

"Take this o foul meddler!" Luna screamed launching a stun spell at Dwayne. However he ducked and it missed, and all the ponies began trying to stun him to no effect.

Celestia paused her spell casting and looked at the ponies around her who were frequently launching stunning spells. She realized that if she didn't do something they were going to be overwhelmed and he would hurt somepony. She spread her wings and flew forward, tackling Dwayne back out of the hole he had made in the crystal and down into the arena where he banged his head hard against the floor. She looked at him and saw that his eyes seemed to be back to normal.

"Celestia… what's h-happening to me?!" he said terrified. He then moved his hand to another pouch in his belt and removed another pistol "listen… one through the heart one through the head… don't you hesitate."

"No Dwayne we can fix this." Celestia said throwing the pistol aside, hoping that he picked up the sincerity in her voice.

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" he said "I can't hold it down much longer."

Celestia quickly summoned a bottle of love potion and shoved it into his mouth. At first he resisted but then the color began to return to his skin and his features began to return to normal. Soon he was sucking on it like a baby with a milk bottle; Celestia couldn't help but let out a weak laugh.

When Dwayne finished the whole bottle he looked up at Celestia "wow- what was that stuff…"

"Love potion" she said "you may experience some giddiness and… exaggerated emotions… but they will pass soon."

"You look really pretty…" he said dreamily "my little pumpkin pie" bopping Celestia on the nose

"Not this again!" they heard big mac yell from the stands.

"Alright Dwayne, one last thing to do is for you to get out of here. I think Chrysalis wanted you to swim through that." She said gesturing to the clear pool which, Dwayne had just noticed, had a tunnel in the back that runs all the way to the upper castle. Dwayne noticed all the other ponies' teleporting with their other earth pony and pegasi friends.

"Ok I guess…. it doesn't look that far…" he looked back and saw Celestia disappear in a flash that nearly blinded him "well here goes nothing." He said diving underwater.

As Dwayne swam down a long tunnel he began to feel a pressure build in his chest. Finally the tunnel began to head up; the crystal was very slippery and sharp so he had to swim without touching the walls. He finally saw the surface above him with all of the ponies and the representatives smiling down at him. He smiled back as he got closer and closer to the surface, but when he was only a few inches from breaking it he hit something. His eyes widened in fear when he realized that there was a plate of crystal blocking him, he began to pound against it over and over in desperation but nothing was working. He looked up briefly and saw the ponies screaming and yelling something he couldn't hear. He saw Celestia use her fore hooves to try and smash the crystal to no avail. Dwayne brought up his blade and began to slash and stab at it but it hardly did any damage. He let out a silent scream that only lost him precious air.

[Perspective change: Princess Celestia]

Celestia looked down at Dwayne as he struggled, she was panicking as she brought her hooves down on the crystal pane over and over but it wasn't breaking.

"Somepony help him!" she yelled as the other ponies began trying everything from magic to brute force but nothing worked.

"Ah… can't…. Smash it." Applejack said as she and big mac bucked it.

Celestia looked down again and saw Dwayne's movements slow down, his struggles began to secede until finally he looked up one last time, raw fear in his eyes as the last of his air left his lungs.

"MOVE!" Ragnarock yelled as he blew fire on it. After a few seconds it shattered and Dwayne's still body floated to the surface. Celestia immediately grabbed him and began shaking him.

"Dwayne please... wake up!" she cried, noticing how cold his body was.

"Whose handiwork is this?!" Ragnarock yelled looking at Chrysalis

"It wasn't me!" she yelled in defense.

"It couldn't have been." Luna said "that is blue fire crystal, only dragons can forge it… and only with minerals that come from the griffon kingdom." All the ponies looked at king Skylar who was smiling sadistically. He began to clap slowly still smiling.

"Well done Luna" he sneered "you certainly aren't just a pretty face."

"You scum!" Ragnarock yelled as he leapt at him only to be stopped in mid jump by a red blur which sent him flying against the far wall.

"Sorry granddad" Garble said "but you want us to be caring wimps like these ponies… I will make us strong!"

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Luna yelled "guards seize him!"

The doors flew open and the form of two guards appeared.

"Now, come quietly" Luna ordered

"Oh I don't think so" he said and the two guards slumped forward. The ponies glimpsed the long red gashes on their throats and looks of shock and pain on their faces. And from behind them emerged two griffon elite guards, holding Scootaloo.

"Hey let me go!" she yelled struggling weakly against the guards iron grip.

"What do ya want ya rotten apple." Applejack said glaring at the king.

"Her" he said pointing at Celestia who was hugging Dwayne's body and rocking back and forth slightly. He coat and mane had changed again to gray and she looked broken. "Now if you want this filly to go home then you had better come with me Celestia… come to think of it you too Luna, I might need something to pass the time."

"I-I…" Luna said but she couldn't find the appropriate response, she knew that they couldn't refuse if the filly would get hurt.

Celestia and Luna both nodded to each other, as Luna walked up beside one of the griffon guards who placed an anti-magic ring on her horn. After that the guard started walking up to Celestia with another ring in his talons.

"I'm sorry Dwayne" Celestia whispered to Dwayne as she kissed him once. Nopony noticed the small spark that connected them as they kissed. The griffon guard grabbed Celestia's wedding ring from her horn and threw it at Dwayne's body before replacing it with an anti-magic ring.

"Good" king Skylar said, then he turned to his guards "alright, get these two on my carriage and one of you stay here and make sure none of these little ponies escape, then when we are gone follow us." Then king Skylar, garble, the princesses and all but one of their guards left.

"We will find you! You will never get away with this!" twilight yelled only to be backhanded by the guard that stayed.

"Be quiet" the guard said.

"You can't do this!" rarity yelled "the guard will find and return the princesses and you will be brought to justice!"

The guard laughed "oh really, we have been preparing for this for years now, we have been drafting griffons against their will and holding their families hostage in case they refused to fight. We have four thousand griffons that will crush anypony that even tries to get the princesses back."

[Perspective change: Pvt. Ripley. D]

Dwayne coughed up cold water and his eyes fluttered. He didn't know what had happened but for some reason he felt very… alive, he looked around and noticed all the ponies in the corner with a griffon guard standing over them. I didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. Slowly, silently Dwayne got up and crept behind the griffin that was now moving towards fluttershy with an evil leer on his face.

[Perspective change: the ponies]

The guard was moving towards fluttershy muttering something about cutting off her wings, and they were all powerless to stop him. The only one that could have taken him was Ragnarock but he was unconscious and Chrysalis had used up most of her magic and didn't have enough for a prolonged fight.

"Get ready for some pain pony" the guard said bringing the tip of his blade to rest on the edge of fluttershy's wing.

Rainbow closed her eyes and heard a horrible, painful scream. Finally she brought up the courage to open her eyes and thought she saw a ghost. All the ponies stared at Dwayne who had one arm around the griffin's neck and the other around his wrist which was twisted at an unnatural angle with the bone sticking out. It was the griffin who had screamed.

"H-HOW" he whimpered

"Oh didn't you know… the minute you fucked with these ponies… I became your worst nightmare." He said coldly "now give me one good reason to let you live."

All the ponies looked at Dwayne in shock, surely it was a bluff… get him scared and interrogate him. The griffin gulped and said "I-I was just following orders"

Dwayne loosened his grip and sighed looking at the ponies "well I guess that is a reason….."

Then just as everypony let out a sigh of relief and the griffin smiled Dwayne grabbed his beak in one hand and pinned his body with his.

"But it's not good enough."

And with that Dwayne used one hand to hold the griffins neck against the floor and used the other to pull his beak back, the ponies all winced when they heard the telltale *CRACK* and the tearing of muscle and sinew.

Rainbow and twilight glanced at each other and looked back at Dwayne. Dwayne was in full soldier mode, pacing up and down yelling orders into a radio.

"Jenna, load up the drop ship….yes full combat mode….umm, bring all the weapons in section C…..what?... A special weapons cache order…...signed by burke huh, he must have brought a few toys when he went to LV426. Bring that too maybe we can get out hands on some of the really good stuff."

He then turned to the ponies "sorry about that, but we need to move fast… if he lays a hand on either of them…" he trailed off holding his blade to the light just as shining armor entered.

"Dwayne, I just heard… I have the entire royal guard ready." Shining said looking very official.

"How many?" Dwayne asked

"Three hundred and ninety five" he replied

"I hope your ponies like to play with big boy toys" Dwayne said hearing the loud whine of the drop ship approaching. He turned to the ponies and said "let's go get your princesses back."

[Perspective change: Princess Celestia]

Celestia was looking down at the ground. She had been held by king Skylar for only four hours and already he decreed that he would kill Luna simply to please his 'loyal subjects' that in itself was a lie… most of his subjects were forced to be here. He was a tyrant and when the griffins tried to protest the execution of the good princess. They had all been beaten and warned that if they opposed the king again they would be killed.

Celestia was forced onto the same podium as Luna where they were both tied down. The podium was at the center of the square in the griffin city. King Skylar stood and looked down at the two princesses with a sadistic smile.

"We are here today to witness what happens to those who oppose my rule" he said pausing dramatically "today I will publicly destroy one of the most powerful beings in equestria and take the other as my bride!"

"I will never be your bride!" Celestia yelled

"Oh really" the king said raising an eyebrow. "Guards! Bring out the whips!" then he looked Celestia right in the eye "I will have complete obedience… even if I have to beat it out of you."

The crowd roared in disapproval when Celestia and Luna were tied down on the raised wooden podium in the center of the courtyard. They quickly quieted when they heard the guards swords draw.

"I'm so sorry sister" Celestia said looking at Luna.

"It's alright sister… he will never win." Luna said smiling, though Celestia could see the fear behind her eyes. That was her greatest fear; imagine being raised knowing that you are an immortal and then having to face death.

They saw two griffins appear holding whips in their talons, as they approached Celestia and Luna locked eyes and prepared for the pain. It came in a quick stinging sensation on each of their cutie marks, leaving bright red marks on them. Celestia looked at Luna who was gritting her teeth in pain, then at the griffin crowd. The citizens were all tearing and hugging their loved ones while the guards and the king laughed at their obvious discomfort.

After about two hours of whipping the king ordered them to stop and to Celestia's horror she saw a griffin step up to the arena with a large axe on his back.

"NO! DON'T DO THIS!" Celestia cried, begging anypony to help her.

The executioner brought his axe to bear and began to lift it above his head, aiming for Luna's neck. This would be the first act of violence committed in equestria since… well ever.

Celestia closed her eyes, she couldn't bear to look. She heard the screams of griffins and the yells of the guards followed by the swish of an axe and a dull thud. Slowly she brought herself to open her eyes and look, what she saw was almost a dream, she saw Dwayne standing there with the axe gripped in his hand an inch from Luna's neck. Everything was silent for a moment until Dwayne pushed the axe back, driving the spike that protruded from the back into the executioners face. Then it started the crowed roared in approval and fled as the king stood flanked by a group of his guards as Dwayne untied the princesses.

"Impossible!" he screamed "I killed you!"

"Humans aren't that easy to kill." Dwayne said as he freed the princesses and pulled the axe from the griffin's face.

"Archers!" the king yelled as a row of fifty archers appeared on the nearby castle walls.

Dwayne placed a hand on his radio "send in puff the magic dragon."

The drop ship immediately appeared from behind some hills and flew level to the wall, the griffins launched their arrows which pinged hopelessly off of the canopy.

Inside Jenna smiled "my turn" she said pressing a small red button on the joystick down. The Nose-mounted 25mm Gatling gun let loose a torrent of led that shredded the griffins instantly, leaving behind more gore than anypony had ever seen.

"Dwayne we're outta here!" Jenna called as the ramp lowered and the mane six emerged to help pull the princesses inside. Just before they left Dwayne turned and threw his knife at King Skylar, it caught him in the leg and he screamed (much to Dwayne's satisfaction) in agony.

"Here we go." Jenna said as they flew back towards the east.

Dwayne immediately dropped the soldiers' façade and turned to Celestia and hugged her. "Are you alright?" he asked looking her over, getting very angry when he was the whip lashes.

"Dwayne we're fine thanks to you." Luna said with a small smile.

"Yeah well we aren't out of the woods yet. We are remarkably low on fuel, but the zebras have some… but it will take time. Until then you are staying with us at landing zone X-RAY."

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked.

"King Skylar has an army four thousand strong waiting to make the push into Equestria; we are going to provide a disincentive."

"Why can't we just go back to Canterlot though?" Luna asked

"We had to bring the entire royal guard to deal with this so if you go back you will be open to attack or assassination. " Dwayne said "plus I don't want to let you out of my sight."

Suddenly Jenna's voice came over the speakers "we're hot, going in for a seven-zero-niner."

Dwayne told the mane 6, Celestia and Luna to get ready to get off before grabbing a pulse rifle and standing in front of the ramp which opened to reveal a large grassy knoll on the top of a hill filled with olive trees and saplings. Here and there ponies could be seen running about with human weapons on their backs. The rest of the marines were ordering them about, setting up a perimeter. All the ponies and Dwayne got out of the drop ship.

"Welcome to hell marine." Jenna said happily over the radio "alright Dwayne I only got one quart left so I'm gone for a while, until we get more fuel from the zebras… but if you need me you call!"


	14. Battle of The Knoll: Part I

Chapter 14 (Battle of The Knoll: part one)

**A/N. I have just finished Halo 4 on legendary and would like to have a moment of silence for Cortana, she has been an important part of any gamers life for eleven years. We will miss you. And now back to the story.**

"Good to see you here." Dwayne said walking up to john who was distributing weapons among the guard.

"Hey Dwayne, we came here as soon as we heard." He then turned to the princesses who were using magic to heal and remove any scars on them, leaving them in an almost unnatural pristine state. "Wow you clean up good!"

"Why are you giving my guards your weapons?" Celestia asked watching a group of twenty ponies run past her holding pulse rifles and smart guns, specially modified with triggers that protrude out of the side of the gun so that ponies could use them.

"Well they are outnumbered" Dwayne said "so we decided to give your ponies an edge."

"Dwayne" shining said walking up the group and bowing to the princesses. "We have the perimeter set up, we're spread thin but we will hold." He then left to assemble the squad leaders that john and Emily had assigned. The 'perimeter' was only about three football fields in diameter so it wasn't really that hard to defend.

Dwayne sighed, these ponies were so inexperienced. He felt horrible that he had to expose them to this but there was no other option. "Celestia, I am going to say a few words to the ponies. I think that if you feel up to it you should too."

Celestia smiled at Dwayne's concern for her ponies. "Of course." Then they turned to the amassing ponies, all of them had one thing in common. Eager faces, they had never seen true war so they thought it was just another pie fight… boy were they in for a big surprise.

"Gentlecolts" Dwayne said silencing the amassing ponies "I know that you think this is your chance at revenge for what those griffins did to your beloved princesses…. But you have to understand that this will be like nothing you have ever seen. You have to keep calm in the field. Now humans have been doing this a very long time, you have our weapons and you will put them to good use… and one last thing" he said looking behind them at a large mountain in the distance where the griffins were camped. "This is a WAR…. Ponies will die; don't let it get to you, remember a soldier does not fight because he hates the pony in front of him... he fights because he loves the pony behind him." Dwayne turned to the princess, gesturing for her to speak.

"Ummm… alright" she began saying her little speech as Dwayne stared at the mountain where even now an army of griffins was heading his way.

"Dwayne!" he heard Emily yell. "We are about to open the weapons cache!"

"Right" he called back running towards her. He found her standing next to a large stack of crates placed around a deserted termite mound, which was at the center of the perimeter so it became their temporary HQ. Some were weapons and ammunition crates but three of them were large, orange boxes with no markings on them at all.

"Let's get these things open then" Dwayne said feeling like a kid on Christmas. When the safety catch was released and the lid fell off they found themselves looking at a six-barreled death machine that occupied one of the crates.

"No fucking way…" Emily whispered as they looked at it. "A-a REAPER! Ohmygosh, Ohmygosh, Ohmygosh!" she squealed.

"Well that about takes care of any air assault they launch." Dwayne said happily

"Open the other one!" Emily yelled.

The next crate contained a large amount of generation III Lee Enfields, No.6R magnum pistols and HUD sunglasses that allowed the X2 scope to work and some M71 SMGs.

"I think I died back at the castle…" Dwayne said swapping his pulse rifle for the Enfield and his pistol for the No.6R, which had way more stopping power.

The last crate contained a large amount of P.E.G.A.S.U.S anti air rockets, but what really caught their attention was the item that lay beneath them. A relatively small grey crate sat at the bottom, covered in shock absorbing foam.

"What's this?" Emily asked hefting it out and setting it on the dirt. She touched a small pad and the crate opened to reveal a small black box which Emily lifted. "THIS IS IT?!" she said disappointed.

"Be careful, it could be dangerous." Dwayne said as Emily placed it back in the crate.

Luna and Celestia walked up to them just as Emily placed it back in the crate.

"Sister I don't trust that device." Luna said eyeing the computer "something tells me it holds more power than it lets on."

Celestia nodded "I agree we should be careful around human technology; I don't think we could benefit from it in any way that would help peace in equestria." Celestia said looking at Dwayne, Emily and john setting up the Reaper.

Suddenly a pony rushed up to the princess "they're here!" he yelled "hundreds of them!"

"Alright, Emily you finish setting the Reaper up, john get me a radio and set up some mortars over there." Dwayne said pointing to a cluster of saplings and long grass about ten meters away from the mound "Celestia you and the girls are to sit right here next to this termite mound and don't move whatever happens." Something in Dwayne's eye told Celestia that he was serious, and to be honest he didn't need to tell her twice. She had seen what those human projectiles could do to ponies.

*HERE THEY COME!* came a ponies voice through the radio. *they are flying directly to you, do you want the pegasi to engage them?*

"No…." Dwayne said "I have a little message for all the kings' horses and all the kings' men." Dwayne walked over to the controls of the Reaper and turned it on. It hummed to life and swiveled to point at the incoming griffins.

All the ponies in the area looked at it curiously, some were getting worried that Dwayne was letting the griffins get so close.

"Just a little more" john muttered "THERE!" he said slamming his hand down on a small button that caused the turret to point at the lead griffin who had just gone into a dive aiming right at Celestia.

Suddenly it came to life with an almost constant *BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ* noise coupled with the sound of clinking spent copper shells. The ponies all turned white when they saw what happened to the lead griffin… he simply disappeared in a cloud of red. The turret made millimeter adjustments in trajectory, locking onto different targets and firing an almost constant stream of led. Finally it stopped and a hissing sound could be heard as it cooled down.

"I-I can't watch" fluttershy sobbed as rarity comforted her.

The worst happened when the ponies thought it started to rain; only it wasn't water… it was blood. The ground became red as the ponies either threw up or began screaming trying to get it off of them.

Everypony had run under some form of shelter except Dwayne and the rest of the humans. They simply went about their business like it was just another day in the office, which it technically was.

"t-they're retreating..." a pony said stepping around the blood.

"Naw, they're regrouping for another assault." John said.

"They are attacking from the west on the ground sir!" another pony yelled.

"You girls stay here!" Dwayne said running towards the hail of arrows that besieged the western perimeter.

"Dwayne wait! Goddamn it…" john yelled running after him with shining.

Celestia turned to the other ponies who were still in a mild state of shock, Luna was staring at the Reaper with a disgusted expression.

"They built that to kill their own kind, we can't let ponies become like that." She said

"I agree, after this is all over we will have to ask Dwayne to get rid of them." Celestia said

"I don't think he'll like that." Rainbow said hugging pinkie who, thankfully, had her eyes closed during the blood rain so she wasn't as horrified as the rest of them.

"Don't worry princess" pinkie chirped "after this we can have your wedding and….." and pinkie went on one of her usual rambles.

Celestia on the other hand was mildly comforted by this thought; after this was over she could finally have some peace. Her thoughts were disturbed however by the clatter of human gunfire and a few screams of pain. Celestia was partially glad that she couldn't see what was happening.

At the western boarder the clatter of gunfire was almost continuous, unicorns were the most successful at using the adapted pulse rifles, the earth ponies were the best at using the smart guns, they would run up behind fallen trees or dirt banks and place the smart guns on them, using them like standard light machine guns. The pegasi would fly low around the line distributing the precious ammunition to the few ponies that had guns.

"Dwayne they can handle it here!" john yelled as Dwayne fired short bursts from his Enfield.

"Alright" Dwayne said getting up and dragging two of the wounded ponies with him. John did the same and shining dragged one more.

When they got back to the termite mound the found Celestia and Luna in the same place laying on their stomachs with their heads down. All the other girls were shivering under the princesses extended wings which held them tight. The guards were all clustered around a tree near the mound, desperately trying to keep up with the radio communications.

"HEY!" Dwayne yelled "keep calm and communicate clearly" he was standing right next to the cowering ponies, the griffins had taken to using catapults to bombard the ponies, however the rocks the threw couldn't get much larger than a cricket ball so as long as it didn't hit anything vital they would be fine. But Dwayne still put up a small tent over the princesses and the girls as well as the radio equipment.

"Oh man, it's getting dark. " Dwayne continued looking at the setting sun, then at Celestia's horn which was glowing a golden yellow then at Luna's horn which was glowing midnight blue.

"I am never gonna get used to that." John said moving to stand next to Dwayne.

"Yeah but it will give the enemy some great cover." Emily said appearing out of the long grass.

"Emily" they greeted "how we doing around the perimeter."

"Pretty good…considering, some trouble with one squad leader but it sorted itself before I could find out who's responsible."

"Well we'll find out when the fighting hits, the cowards are always the first to retreat… or surrender." John said looking at Dwayne's tired face. "Dude, go to her. You look like shit and you've had a long day."

"Yeah" Emily agreed "it'll do you both some good."

"Ok but as soon as I hear firing I want to know what's going on. Is that clear!"

"Yes sir." They said moving off into the night.

As Dwayne made his way past the mortars they had set up he tapped everypony on the shoulder saying things like "you did a good job today, keep it up" and "we gave them more than they gave us today." Finally he reached Celestia and the other ponies who had all fallen asleep. Dwayne smiled and sat next to them putting his arm around Celestia who nudged closer to him in her sleep.

A few hours later Dwayne awoke with a start, he was sure he heard some rustling and other noises. He was about to let it go when he heard rainbow dash whisper.

"I can smell them."  
"Yeah, dead bodies stink." Dwayne replied but dash shook her head.

"No I mean I can really smell them creeping up on us." She said worried.

Dwayne looked at the few guards at the mound. They were mostly radio operators and about ten wounded guards. All of the able ponies were station at the perimeter.

"Get your weapons out" Dwayne said in a whisper then he turned to the mortar and hefted it so that it pointed straight up. He then whispered "illumination" and there was a *thump* as the round streaked into the sky.

Celestia had been woken when she felt the warmth on her back leave. She had awoken to complain but had seen the anxious looks on everyponys face, she knew what was about to happen. Some griffons had managed to sneak through the lines in the darkness and now they were nearing the HQ.

Suddenly the clearing was filled with a dim white light as the magnesium in the illumination shot burned. Before them stood at least thirty griffins, for about three seconds the ponies that were laying on the ground looked at the griffins who looked back equally shocked.

"Get them!" a griffin yelled and the air was suddenly filled with arrows, bullets and the screams of the wounded.

The wounded ponies all hoisted themselves up and lay back down on their sides holding firearms in one hoof and firing into the long grass, occasionally getting a hit. However the most effective were Dwayne and shining, they had begun a little competition against each other on who could kill the most much to the princesses discontent.

Suddenly Celestia saw a griffin run up behind Dwayne and tackle him to the ground; Dwayne flipped him over so that the griffin was under him. And since he didn't have his knife he grabbed the helmet from his head and repeatedly bashed the griffin in the face with it. Soon its struggles ceased and the griffin went limp. Celestia and the girls could only watch him with terror in their eyes as he brutally clubbed the griffin to death.

"Cease fire!" Dwayne yelled looking into the night. "Shining, find me the pony who was in charge of the northeastern perimeter… his incompetence almost got us killed."

"All right, give me a minute" and he ran off into the night.

**[Perspective change: king Skylar and his commanders in the mountain]**

"What do you mean losses are severe!" king Skylar yelled bringing his fist down on the table.

One of the cowering commanders whimpered "my lord… we have already lost over a two hundred griffins, the human weapons are too strong."

"Yes" said another griffin "their catapults are really accurate and throw things that blow up!"

"Then send more troops in!" king Skylar screamed.

"Umm… my liege, the ponies have never harmed us. And these griffins are draftees; they don't want to be here. With all due respect you can't force them to walk to their certain death… they have families!"

The king turned and looked out of the tunnel they had dug in the mountain "it is of no concern to me if my griffins perish in it. I still wouldn't shed a tear for them because they do not deserve any better."

All the griffins in the room froze, had he really just said that. They were all looking at him open mouthed as he turned back to face them.

"Send in the entire third battalion, overrun those fools in the morning." He said.

"My liege, your niece is in that battalion…"

"So what, she used to have ponies as best friends… send them in tomorrow."

[Perspective change: The Knoll.]

Shining had just returned with the pony in charge of the northeastern perimeter. The sight of him shocked the princesses and made rarity grind her teeth.

"P-Prince Blueblood!" Luna said shocked.

"Greetings Auntie Luna He said before he caught sight of Rarity "oh no, not you again."

"Enough chit chat" Dwayne said "why didn't you hold the line where you were supposed to?!"

"Well it was late and I was tired. I need my beauty sleep." He said as if nothing was wrong.

"W-WHAT!" Dwayne burst unable to contain his disbelief "are you serious? Ponies got hurt!"

John leaned close to Celestia and whispered "how in the hell is this guy related to you?"

Celestia sighed " he is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great (and probably even more greats) nephew on our mother's side."

"Yes" Luna said "apparently out mother had a sister that wed a unicorn… he is the result… 52 times removed."

The then turned back to Dwayne who was ranting about the prince's behavior.

"You know what! Here's what I am going to do, you come over here." Dwayne yelled pointing at a pony he had seen fighting earlier on.

"Yes sir!" he said saluting.

"You are going to take Bluebloods place, and vice versa. Understood!"

"Yes sir! Come on you back to the lines!" the pony said

"This is an outrage, I am a prince… I cannot be led! I lead, auntie Celestia help me." The prince yelled.

"Prince Blueblood, royalty must set an example" Celestia said standing up, all the other pony and human soldiers looked at her with faces that screamed 'get down before you get hurt!' Celestia ignored that and continued to pace towards Blueblood "you have been arrogant for too long, this might teach you a lesson in humility." She then turned to the pony that had taken the princes place "what is your name?"

"Blazing shield your majesty." He said bowing.

"Do you have a family Blazing shield?" she asked

"Yes, I am married to a beautiful mare and I am having a foal born today." He said with a hint of pride in his voice.

Celestia smiled and returned to her previous place with the rest of the girls.

"They are going to hit us like this all over the perimeter tomorrow" Dwayne said to Blazing shield. "Take some ammo and predestinate your targets for the mortars."

The pony threw up a salute and ran off to the line with Blueblood in tow.

A few hours later dawn broke and the ponies were all dying of thirst and the dust and heat that was thrown up wasn't helping.

"You really do a good job with summer heat Celestia." Dwayne said

Princess Celestia looked at him angrily, blinking the sweat out of her eyes. "There aren't that many clouds here, that's why it's so hot… its always hot here."

"I know, I was just kidding" he said with a weak laugh. He got up and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off of Celestia's face. She smiled at him as he gently dabbed it on her forehead.

She finally broke "alright I forgive you…"

Dwayne smiled contentedly as he ran off to check the lines.

Dwayne ran up to the northeastern boarder where Blazing shield was managing the ponies. "How's it going?" Dwayne asked him

"Well sir" the pony said "nothing's happened so far."

"Hmm…" Dwayne said looking around

"What is it?" another pony asked

"Nothing's wrong except nothing's wrong." Dwayne said making all the ponies look at each other with questioning looks in their eyes. "Everypony fire three rounds at anything that looks suspicious to them."

The ponies all brought up their weapons and fired three shots. Immediately after that there was a pause of about three seconds and griffins sprouted out of their hiding places. A trumpet blew and they charged screaming.

"Oh hell!" Dwayne muttered "fire!"

The ponies let loose a torrent of bullets towards the oncoming horde, many of the fell but a few ponies were hit by arrows and went down instantly. Dwayne brought up his Enfield and fired ten quick shots into the mass of griffins. It was then that he noticed a certain white pony with a blonde mane cowering in the dirt muttering things like 'we are all going to die' and 'it's hopeless.' Dwayne was disgusted. Some prince he was, he could understand not wanting to fight. He knew a lot of humans back on earth that hated fighting. They were fine but Blueblood was spreading fear… and fear is a disease. It weakens morale and makes people or in this case ponies weaker.

"Get up." Dwayne said hotly, kicking Blueblood in the side. The prince looked up the stoic face of his soon to be uncle ang gulped, he wondered how this human could simply stand with arrow whizzing past him while the other ponies couldn't raise their faces from the dirt in fear.

Dwayne grunted and dragged him back to the termite mound. Once there he handed him over to the mortar crews, at least there he could do some good.

"What's our situation?!" Dwayne yelled

"Sir we are beginning to run low on ammo and we have no water left!" a pony called while dropping rounds into the mortar which then emitted a loud *thump* "also the ponies on the third line need help; they are being hit hard and have taken heavy losses!"

"Get some of the ponies from the first and second lines to provide support, send them whatever ammunition we have left and distribute this water to the wounded!" Dwayne ordered throwing his water bottle at a passing medic. He walked up to the girls and gave them some water as well.

"How are you girls holding up?" He said with a weak smile.

"Oh we're just fine and dandy" applejack said comforting fluttershy who was cowering in a small hole she had dug.

"Good, it'll be over soon." He said getting up.

As Dwayne walked around checking on ponies he always go the same response, that they are slacking up a little but that they will hold." He had finally reached the third line after a while and was shocked by what he saw. The earth behind the line was riddled with deep pits dug by mortar fire and covered with the bodies of dead griffin soldiers, and the ponies on the line were spread thin. The ponies were covered in dirt and the enemy's blood to such an extent that they were camouflaged against the dirt, and every now and then Dwayne saw a dead pony covered by a blanket. He couldn't help but sigh at this, for a moment he felt guilty but remembered that the griffins had been building this army for over four years; this would have happened sooner or later… and without human aid… he didn't want to think of what the outcome could be.

"hey buddy" Dwayne said crawling on his stomach next to a pony who had had a specially adapted pony smart gun propped on a bipod in front of him. His eyes were closed; he must have been awake for over thirty hours at least.

The pony's eyes suddenly snapped open and he gasped looking at Dwayne "Aah! - umm I wasn't sleeping."

Dwayne chuckled "it's okay, but please if you feel like you're going to nod off again call somepony to take your place for a while."

"Yes sir." The pony said smiling weakly.

Suddenly they heard a rustling in a bush ahead of them and snapped their weapons up.

"Show yourself!" Dwayne yelled and to his surprise a white flag emerged from behind the bush.

"We surrender!" said a female voice.

"Ok come out very slowly" Dwayne said. The two griffins emerged from behind the bush one seemed to be a young female and the other was a male with a long and swirly mustache.

"Why are you surrendering?" Dwayne said in a stoic voice, keeping the long barrel of his Enfield trained on the two griffins.

"King Skylar is crazy!" the male griffin said in a very heavy French accent "we never wanted to fight the ponies! But he says we have to, many others agree with us but he says that he will kill their families if they don't."

"Yeah, he is so not cool! The ponies are nice but he makes us do things… he doesn't even care what happens to us anymore. So we got out before he sent us to our deaths."

"Alright… you surrender is accepted." Dwayne said "what are your names by the way."

"I'm Gilda" said the female griffin.

"And I am Gustav" said the male griffin.

"Well come on you can stay with the princesses. But I am warning you if you try anything stupid then I will hang you up to dry." Dwayne said.


	15. Battle of The Knoll: Part II

Chapter 15 (Battle of The Knoll: part two)

A/N The Xenomorphs used in this chapter are the creations of MidGerm, I would like to thank him for his help in both contributing and beta reading this story. And sorry for the delay in this chapter, I will begin posting about once a week again now.

As they walked through the hastily set up pony perimeter the griffins could only look at the horrors that awaited their friends when they arrived. Large weapons were everywhere and the Reaper made them shiver. But the calm attitude all changed when rainbow dash saw Gilda.

"You!" she said angrily

"Uh… hey dash what's up." She said nervously.

"WHATS UP!" Rainbow Dash screamed "you are trying to kill us that's what's up!"

"It's not her fault" Dwayne said putting a hand on rainbow dash's shoulder.

"Ok fine, but if you are mean to anyone then I will kick your flank all the way back to Ponyville." Dash said returning to her seat near the mound.

"Now you two" Dwayne said turning to the griffins "tell me exactly what Skylar is planning."

"He said that we were going to overrun you with our numbers all over your perimeter." Gilda said pointing at certain area where she knew the griffins were bound to attack.

"Alright" Dwayne said as the two griffins finished telling him everything "go over there with the rest of the girls. After we are done here you can leave."

Dwayne then went about telling the ponies to prepare for the worst of the fighting yet, the griffins were tough and they had numbers and land on their side but so long as the perimeter held they would be fine.

After a while Dwayne returned to the termite mound and looked around him. It had drastically changed, the girls rather than staying down under cover opted to go around and help the wounded. Dash and rarity had taken over two radios from their wounded charges and were calling different targets. The dead ponies were laid under a large bloodstained cloth, next to the cloth was a pile of bandages absolutely drenched in blood, around a nearby tree lay dozens of wounded ponies, their armor pierced by griffin blades and arrows. Suddenly they heard a quick blast on a whistle in the distance and Gilda's eyes widened in fear.

"They're coming." She whispered

Dwayne realized that this was the big attack; he ran to rainbow and told her and the rest of the girls to get back to the termite mound. Once they were all dug in Dwayne took over all the radio communications.

"Third line what our status?!" he yelled in to the radio

"They are hitting us really hard******** oh Celestia the-Aarrgh!" the pony on the other end said before being silenced with a sickening slash and squelch of flesh being cut by metal.

"SIR!" shining yelled pointing at where the third line used to be. It was now covered in griffins running towards them.

"Everypony cover the third line!" Dwayne yelled grabbing a pulse rifle from a large pile next to the wounded.

"Aim and fire, one round each!" Dwayne yelled again to the thirty or so ponies that had amassed around him. They all began to fire, dropping the griffins left and right. But they seemed to be coming in an almost constant stream.

"Radio!" Dwayne yelled to the pony a few feet away from him. The pony scurried over to him and dropped onto his stomach, giving Dwayne access to the radio set on his back.

"Come in third line!" Dwayne said calmly "I need you to pop smoke and mark your positions."

"******wh-*****overrun! We-******we have no lines!*****enemies and friendlies mixed in all ove-*****" came a distraught ponies voice form the other end.

Dwayne was silent for a moment as he considered his options. "attention all ponies, you had all better get really small in your holes because I'm gonna drop some high explosives all over the place!"

Soon after he had given the order Celestia and the other ponies called out to him from their cover behind some sandbags and ammo crates. "Dwayne, if you blow up everything somepony might get hurt." Luna said looking nervous.

"it's a risk we have to take." He said as the familiar *thump*s sounded through the din. In the distance they could hear explosions and screaming. Suddenly john came out in front of Dwayne and said something very quickly. The ponies could only pick up a few of his words, words like 'too many' and 'heavy incinerator'. After they heard that Dwayne nodded quickly and turned to the ponies that were hiding under cover.

"We need to move now." He said firmly pulling each one of them out of their hiding spot and ushering them towards the saplings and the rest of the wounded ponies.

"Why?" rainbow protested stopping dead in her tracks only to have Dwayne push her forward.

"You don't want to know…" he was saying before they saw john haul a barrel attached to a tube and connected it to one of the normal flamethrowers they had. "I mean it!" he said angrily. The ponies complied and as they reached the trees a deafening roar of flames sounded from behind Dwayne. Dashed eyes went wide and a wall of fire burned the long grass the hid the griffins to a crisp. Their screams echoed in her mind and she began to tear as Dwayne grabbed her and looked into her eyes.

"w-why" she whispered hoarsely

"I have been asking myself that for ages" Dwayne said putting on an encouraging smile and wiping the tears from her face. She smiled a little as Dwayne set her down and ushered her to the rest of her friends who had all taken places among the wounded. Dwayne was about to go and help john when he heard another whistle blow in the distance, the griffins had managed to flank them!

"Everypony grab your weapons!" he yelled moving to stand between the oncoming griffins and the girls. The wounded ponies all picked up their weapons and moved to form a semi-circle around the girls too.

"Gentlecolts!" Dwayne yelled pulling the slide back on his No.6R "prepare to defend yourselves!"

Everypony scanned the area as they heard the griffins getting closer. Dwayne saw Gilda and Gustav cowering next to the ponies. He grabbed a pulse rifle and an Enfield, walked over to them and threw the weapons at their feet.

"b-but we don't want to fight" Gilda whimpered

"Right now that state of mind doesn't exist." He said with a small smile on his face. Though internally he knew that forcing the griffins to kill their own kind after they surrendered was really cruel. Suddenly through the long grass figures began to take shape, griffins began to spill in from almost every side and the sound of screaming was drowned out by the sound of weapons discharging their load.

Dwayne grabbed a sword from the ground and threw it at a griffin that came running at him. It fell like a rag doll, skidding to a halt at the girls' feet. They all screamed at the body twitched convulsively.

"Princess, please can we leave" twilight begged as she and her friends huddled up against one another, terrified.

"I can't teleport all of us to safety, we would be in even greater danger if we left." Celestia said dropping to her stomach as an arrow whizzed past her.

The arrow hit a nearby pony who fell wheezing as it punctured his lung, dropping his pulse rifle next to dash. She looked at it before looking up and seeing a griffin with a spear running right at them. She looked to Dwayne but he was distracted by a large group of griffins who had just broken through.

She gasped picking up the pulse rifle and pointing it at the griffin. His eyes widened when he saw her pointing the gun at him, a loud bang that was lost alongside others emanated from dashes rifle. The griffin gasped and fell, but he didn't die. He crawled towards dash and the princesses who looked at him with sadness and sympathy in their eyes. Dash walked forwards to him and held out a hoof, the griffin smiled and suddenly drew a small knife and moved to slit her throat. But a large heavy boot stomped on his talon, emitting a sickening *crack* and making the griffin scream in agony. He looked up at his assailant, Dwayne loomed over him, his face expressionless but in his eyes the griffin and the ponies could see the rage at his little 'assassination attempt'.

The griffin looked pleadingly at him as Dwayne pressed the barrel of his pistol to his head and fired. Dash backed away when he shot the griffin though the head, causing at least half of it to come away with the .45 round. Pinkie screamed and they all backed behind Celestia and Luna who were looking at the griffin with open mouths.

Dwayne then proceeded to fire another three shots in quick succession before turning to the ponies "are you alright?" he asked dash looking her over. When she didn't answer he put his hand under her chin and told her that she did the right thing, that it was either him or her friends. She lightened up a little at that and returned to her friends as Dwayne walked up to Celestia.

"So… not your average day then." He said smiling, trying to lighten the mood and slapping a new magazine into his pistol and pulling the slide back with practiced efficiency.

Celestia glared at him "please Dwayne I really do not appreciate your sick humor right now."

Dwayne took a step back, a hurt expression on his face before he replaced it with his blank face.

"Yes your majesty." He said coldly "I will return to the battle now."

Luna walked up to Celestia and quietly said "you were a little harsh don't you think, I mean he was only trying to boost morale…"

Celestia sighed. She knew that, and now she regretted talking to Dwayne like that she could tell he was hurt on the inside. And she really didn't like the tone of voice he was using now. It was cold and emotionless…. Celestia knew all too well that he was bottling up his emotions, and she had said the last thing he needed to set him off. She would have to talk to him after this and make things right.

Soon they heard a manic cackling come from near the edge of the clearing. Dwayne was standing over a growing pile of dead griffins, the pile was getting higher and higher as he laughed more, dropping the magazine from the pistol to the ground where at least twelve on its brothers now rested.

"Is that all you got!" he taunted firing a shot and taking down two griffins at the same time "Double kill!" he yelled happily failing to notice that all the other ponies had stopped firing and were looking at him killing the griffins. Somehow he was managing to take them all on and the griffins began to focus on taking him down.

"Come on!" one griffin yelled at his squad from the other side of the clearing "we can take him if we work together!" and with those words he hefted a short axe and charged the human, with his comrades close behind him.

Dwayne smiled and fired a round into the lead griffin's foot as he came close. He yelped in pain and stumbled. Dwayne yanked the axe out of his hands and brought it down twice in quick succession on his shoulder blade, killing him.

"He is a DEMON!" the other griffins yelled as they began to run away.

"Oh no you don't!" Dwayne said as he threw the axe at the escaping griffins, managing to hit one in the back. In the silence that followed he noticed the ponies all looking at him. He blushed apologized quickly and ran to a medical crate, removing a bottle with the words 'stress reliever' on it and drinking it all in three gulps.

Suddenly john and Emily appeared through the underbrush followed by loads of ponies.

"Dwayne they got through our lines!" they both yelled simultaneously slapping new clips into the guns that they held.

Dwayne was looking around at the state of the ponies and sighed walking to stand in the center of the clearing, next to Celestia and the other girls. They all saw the pained look on his face as he said in a quiet and husky whisper "john…..broken arrow."

"What…" both of the other marines asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Broken Arrow." Dwayne said again walking to sit on a crate, his head in his hands.

Emily grabbed her radio and yelled "Broken arrow confirmed!"

*E.T.A sixteen minutes!* came Jenna's voice

Celestia looked at Emily as she put down the radio "what is 'Broken Arrow'?"

"It's when a colonial marine brigade is about to be overrun and the leader is forced in to authorizing every single form of aerial attack possible…then he evacuates his troops and destroys the entire battlefield with a locust missile. We hate using it because a locust missile does just what the insect does, it basically turns anywhere into a barren landscape."

Celestia looked at the humans' scared faces for a while until they heard the drop ships whine and looked up to see it hover above them.

*Bringing the pain ladies!* Jenna said over the radio as the missile-laden wings unfolded and began to fire. At first nothing happened but then the explosions started, and not just any explosions. These were worse than even the princesses had seen in their lifetimes.

*switching incendiaries* Jenna said as she launched the concentrated napalm at the griffins positions. Thankfully their screams were drowned out by the drop ship. When it ran out of missiles its chain gun opened up and unleashed hell on the griffins, the rounds hit everything, turning anything that wasn't a rock to paste.

*Dwayne I have launched the locust missile! You have three minutes to load everything on here. Place that I.R strobe!*

The drop ship landed and lowered its ramp; the ponies grabbed everything of use and ran aboard. The last on were the girls and the humans who had opted to carry the parts of the Reaper. As the ship lifted off of the ground the griffins reached the clearing and fired arrows at the ship. It did little damage but they had accidentally knocked over the I.R strobe and without it the missile would impact in the wrong place.

"Take us down!" Emily yelled.

*no time, this missile is going to hit the wrong place I can't risk it.*

Dwayne glanced back at the two other humans; they both nodded and grabbed some weapons.

"Dwayne what are you doing?" Celestia asked suspiciously.

The tree humans had dropped all of their heavy gear and walked over to the open ramp.

"Celestia you remember when I pinkie promised not to get hurt…. I'm gonna have to break that promise." He said sadly

"Dwayne…" all the girls asked moving forward.

"sorry." And he nodded to shining who then ran up and grabbed twilight. The rest of the guards all moved forward and grabbed the other ponies, though for the princesses it took at least five guards to hold them back.

"Come back!" they all yelled as the three humans jumped out of the drop ship as it hovered eight feet above the ground and ran up to the strobe. The drop ship rose high into the air and the ponies could watch from a bird's eye view as the humans finally reached the strobe.

"We will try to get it as close as possible to the mountain." Came john's voice over the radio as Dwayne grabbed the strobe and held it securely under his arm and held his pistol in the other. Emily and john had grabbed pulse rifles and stood at either side of him as they began to run towards the mountain that was the griffin high command.

"Are they crazy!" a pony yelled "they won't make it past the griffin line!"

They watched the three humans begin to run towards the mountain, sprinting and shooting griffins at the same time. Emily and john cleaved a path on either side, clearing out the griffins that had tried to stop them Dwayne wasn't firing as much but every now and then he fired a round from his No.6R which sounded like a cannon compared to the pulse rifles.

"Everypony look!" shining yelled as they looked out of the ramp opening. There in the distance, coming from the direction of the HOPE base was a streak of light, flying even faster than rainbow dash could. It turned gracefully in the air and began its descent to the earth. Or more particularly the strobe that Dwayne was now carrying.

"We're nearly there!" he yelled over the radio as they neared the griffin's defense line.

Dwayne ran up the small hill that surrounded the line and took his first look at the griffin line. He was horrified to find that there were hundreds of them, they all grabbed crossbows and swords and rushed the humans. They kept firing until they found what they were looking for... a catapult.

"What are they doing?" Luna asked as they watched the humans turn it around and place the strobe inside.

Twilights face lit up with realization.

The humans fired it and the strobe streaked towards the mountain, landing about five hundred meters away from the entrance, though they both were still if the effective range of the missile.

*you guys! Get down, the missile is about to hit in 5, 4, 3…..*

"Oh no!" Celestia said looking at what's going on through a screen in the drop ship.

*…2, 1*

Suddenly the screen turned white and cut to static.

"NO!" Celestia screamed crying and running to the ramp and jumping out, flying quickly to where the humans were once standing. Nopony tried to stop her. The drop ship returned to the battle field and landed where the griffin line used to be.

"Oh Celestia…" applejack trailed off as they looked around at the burned ash covered ground and fell from the sky like snow, turning everything a dull shade of grey.

"Over here!" Luna yelled

The ponies all ran towards her and looked at what she was looking at. They all gasped when they saw Dwayne's helmet and pistol lying on the ground, burned and covered in soot.

Pinkie burst out crying and rarity seemed to trying to hold back her tears…but she failed and soon everypony was openly crying, even shining and the royal guard had tears streaking silently down their faces.

"It is done…" Celestia whispered as she began to turn away.

"P-Princess!" a pony yelled from behind her. All the ponies turned to see a mound of earth shift and a hand burst from beneath the ground.

"Z-Z-Zombies!" screamed pinkie pie

"Get him out!" rarity yelled as they ran forward to pull a battered, soot covered Dwayne from the ground. Immediately after him cane john and Emily, all of them were gasping for breath and collapsed soon after they were dug out. After all an ordeal like that… who wouldn't pass out.

"Get them to the palace immediately!" Luna yelled as guards quickly grabbed their unconscious bodies and took them into the drop ship. It quickly rose from the ground and left in the direction of Canterlot.

[Perspective change: the mountain.]

A cool breeze blew through the trees and the ash fell from their dead branches, on the ground it revealed the griffins destroyed forces. Burned swords and shields lay everywhere but not everything was dead. Those smart enough had ran away from the battlefield and returned to their families, others had disobeyed their sadistic leader's orders and simply left. Unfortunately this is not a fair world and sometimes the worst beings escape out of sheer luck. King Skylar is one of these beings.

"Damn you all!" he yelled at his surviving commanders who had, along with the rest of the griffin kingdom completely denounced their loyalty to this 'king'.

"Well if I cannot have all I want then I will destroy all who have it." He said spreading his wings and flying towards the desert. A few hours later he came upon a tunnel that led deep into the mountain. When he got inside he saw the long rows of cages that held Xenomorphs of all shapes and sizes.

"Your majesty!" came a yell from further down the rows. A griffin wearing a lab coat with spectacles emerged. "The specimens are ready! As soon as we can have the army take them to equestria and release them in manageable numbers...the ponies will be crushed." He handed the king a piece of parchment on every type of Xenomorph they had in store.

Xenomorph spy  
A Xenomorph spy is the result of a Xenomorph coming from a changeling, can turn partially invisible.

Xenomorph Dragon

A Xenomorph Heavy, or Xenomorph Dragon is as its name implies, a Xenomorph born from a Dragon that was hived, it is as large as a Queen Xenomorph and spews a mix between fire and Acid, its inner jaw has its own Xeno-skeleton.

Xenomorph Swarmers  
Xenomorph swarmers are the result of a Xenomorph being born from a "Parasprite".

Their exo-skeletons are much weaker than that of a Normal Xenomorph MAKING  
them extremely easy to kill by normal means such as; fire which can take out  
hundreds at a time, explosions and small arms fire..  
But despite being easy to kill, they are by far, the most lethal as they can populate the same way a parasprite dose by simply 'Spitting out new soldiers', and then having the newborn soldiers repeating the process, allowing them to swarm and overrun all types of enemies with sheer numbers.  
Their teeth are also considerably sharper than a normal Xenomorphs, allowing them to eat virtually anything.  
Xenomorph Swarmers are used by their 'more important' siblings as shields or means of attack, when a large Xenomorph that is un-able to defend itself is under attack by hostiles, Xenomorph swarmers act as both its offence and defense. Some swarmers will act as a sort of 'Meat shield', deliberately flying into incoming enemy fire to ensure that no harm befalls its intended Target, while the other portion will swarm the attacker, usually ending in a quick death for their targets.  
Xenomorph swarmers tend to eat their dead whenever they can so they can regurgitate a new healthy Swarmer

Xenomorph Griffons  
A Xenomorph Griffon is as its name implies, a Xenomorph born from a Griffon, although they are similar to their Pegasi-born counterparts, Xenomorph griffons are used as fighters to intercept airborne enemies, using their sharper claws and tails and superior speed to either kill their targets or render them comatose.

Xenomorph Flyer  
A Xenomorph flyer is a Xenomorph born from a pegasi, they use their flight abilities to transport eggs to various locations and or transport other things, such as, taking victims back to the hive by use of air, attacking any nearby airborne threats, they also have Acid pouch's on their craniums allowing them to spit acid on their targets below.

Spitter

A ground based Xenomorph that has Acid pouches on its head (similar to its Flyer Siblings) allowing it to spit acid on its victims from afar, be wary of its Range.

Lurker

A skinnier, weaker, but faster class of Xenomorph warrior, it uses its superior speed to take its enemies by surprise, and it can pounce on its victims, rendering them completely helpless, they prefer to pick off wounded or isolated targets, Whatever Happens, Stick together!.

Crusher

A Crusher is a much more bigger variant of Warrior that prefers to crush its enemies with its massive bullet-proof crown like head, its exo skeleton is too thick and cannot be killed by small to medium arms fire (pistols or rifles), if you see a crusher, don't try to be a hero, RUN!.

Praetorian

The body guard of the Queen Xenomorph, and in some cases, left to guard a certain area of interest, making it the 'Field commander', they are considerably stronger than their lesser siblings (warriors and drones) which will sacrifice themselves to ensure the praetorians survival.  
A praetorian's exo skeleton is bullet proof and fire proof, your whole group will need to gang up to bring them down.

Xenomorph Bomber

unlike its other brothers and sisters, a Xenomorph Bomber exists only to find a  
target and self-destruct, showering its target in a massive shower of acid, it has a white exo-skeleton that is resistant even to the lethal human projectiles.

And a…a Xenomorph Leviathan  
a Xenomorph Leviathan is a massive Xenomorph born from an ursa major and or minor, it walks on all fours and is bigger than any other Xenomorph in existence, other Xenomorphs use the leviathan as a type of transport, acting as a mobile hive by storing countless eggs in the various holes in its Exo-skeleton, it's also capable of transporting larger, slower Xenomorphs.

At the last one the king raised his eyebrows and a small smile spread on his face, even though they only had one of the massive leviathans.

"Unfortunately doctor our plans will have to be altered. The army has left us." King Skylar said walking to a large metal door and sealing himself inside, once he was locked in he looked through a small glass pane where he saw the doctor standing looking back at him questioning his intentions.

"Goodbye doctor." He said as he pulled a leaver. Suddenly behind the doctor all the cages that held the xenomorphs opened, large metal chains opened the doors and the xenomorphs spilled out.

The doctor screamed and began banging on the metal door "damn you Skylar! Please!" he screamed.

The king looked back through the small slit of a window and grinned as all of the xenomorphs pounced on the doctor.

"No, no! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" he screamed as his little 'experiments' tore him apart.

The xenomorphs quickly ran to a deep pit covered with a steel grille. From inside a deep growling could be heard, and then the grille caved outwards slightly as something huge hit it.

King Skylar smiled as the metal finally gave and the xenomorph leviathan emerged. All over it the xenomorphs crawled into holes in its armor, creating the portable hive that they would use.

The king turned and pulled another lever, a large wooden door at the end of the hall opened and the xenomorphs spilled out into the night. In the distance they saw a city perched on a mountain…canterlot.

And all the xenomorphs began their long trek towards the city. It would take them weeks, if not months to reach it but they were not deterred.

The king turned again and looked at the bunker he had built for this reason; he walked to a large throne and sat down. He was about to close his eyes and sleep but he felt something drip onto his back.

"What the-" he said wiping the sticky material off of himself. He then looked up and saw a single xenomorph drone hanging from the ceiling.

"Oh no…" he whimpered. All that could be heard from outside the door was a quick shriek, the sound of splattering blood…then... silence.

[Perspective change: canterlot palace, entrance hall]

The large, ornate doors burst open and the surviving ponies all filed in. the wounded were rushed off to the hospital but the humans had to be seen by the royal doctor.

"Where is he?!" Luna said impatiently pacing up and down in front of the ponies.

"He'll be here soon." Celestia said from her place next to Dwayne.

Suddenly a snowy white pony ran up holding a bag with a red cross on it.

"I'm here" he panted "where are they."

"Over here!" rainbow called

The doctor ran over to them and looked over the humans.

"Hmm well I can't say I'm a professional at… human anatomy but I would say that they are suffering from some kind of trauma." He said pushing some spectacles onto his face "I would suggest that you give them a comfortable place to rest and feed them mushed up food. I can't say how long they will be blacked out but it may be a while." And with that the doctor left to attend to the other ponies.

"Very well thank you doctor." Celestia said smiling weakly before turning to the other ponies "I will take Dwayne to my bedchamber. Could you please take those two to the guest rooms?"

"Of course." Twilight said as she and the rest of the girls began to move Emily and John to the guest rooms.

Celestia picked up Dwayne gently with her magic and laid him carefully on her back; she then walked to her room and lay him on the bed. She sat for a while before Luna appeared holding a piece of parchment.

"Sister" she said sadly "this is the list of the casualties in …"

"How many" Celestia said cutting her off.

"Seventy-five ponies, one thousand nine hundred and fifty griffins." She replied "the griffin people have rejected king Skylar and garble is being hunted down as we speak. i have already sent aid to the griffin kingdom."

"alright, Send out letters to the families. Tell them that their loved ones died heroes. and send condolences to the griffin kingdom, they will have made princess Vivien queen now, at least she is a just and fair ruler. " Celestia said lying next to Dwayne as her sister left.

Please review!


	16. Revival

Chapter 16 "Revival."

**A/N the magic that put the three humans into a coma is going to be relevant for future developments in the storyline, let just say that an evil is rising. Also I have to apologize for the delay; I haven't been myself for the last few days.**

It had been almost two weeks since Dwayne and the others had entered their coma and things were getting a little hopeless, pinkie insisted on bringing cupcakes whenever she could and twilight had been reading up on all her books in hopes of finding something they could use to help them recover to no avail. After the first week they were beginning to slow down, the only pony that hadn't changed her habits was princess Celestia. She would go about her duties very quickly but diligently and immediately return to Dwayne and sit at his side hoping that he would return to the land of the living.

The best doctors from all around Equestria had come to see the humans and their condition. With Jenna helping them with the basics of human anatomy they had concluded that the comas were in fact magically induced, and that it was repairing or altering something in their heads. Jenna had tried using a medical scanner but it had told her that physically they were fine but that their brainwaves were off of the chart… and it was getting worse.

"Sister" Luna said imploringly looking at Celestia as she sat on some pillows in front of her fire place. "You need to get out more, all you ever do now is your work and sitting here looking at Dwayne."

"I have to, what if he wakes up and I'm not here… he would be scared and alone." She said not moving.

"That's it" Luna said "I've had twilight and the girls come here to help me and they have a secret weapon."

Celestia looked at her with a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Let's see if you want to stay in here after this…" Luna said as a smirk curled on her face and rainbow dash and applejack dragged a gagged pinkie into the room.

"princess are ya sure bout' this?" applejack asked

"Yes" Luna replied "did you give her the sugar before you brought her here."

"Yup" dash said "it seems really cruel to do this though…"  
"It's the only way." Luna said as they ungagged pinkie and left her in the room alone with Celestia

"….chim…cherry….chonga!" pinkie said with a devilish smile.

[A few minutes later]

The door to Celestia's room burst open and she ran out of it, a pair of magically conjured earmuffs on her head as she ran from a bouncing pinkie pie.

"Oh come on princess!" she called after her "all the other ponies say my coat is pink but it's really lightish red!"

"Sister! Please call her off and I will do whatever you want." Celestia yelled cowering into a corner.

"Will you leave your room and interact with your subjects." Luna said firmly

"Yes, please!" Celestia whined covering her ears.

"Very well then" Luna said signaling to rainbow dash who held a cupcake in front of pinkies face. Pinkie immediately stopped talking and her eyes widened as she looked at the cupcake.

"Ooooooooo….tasty." she said as Rainbow Dash flew off down the corridor pinkie in hot pursuit.

Luna turned to Celestia who stood and dusted herself off "I'm sorry sister I have neglected my duties… I can't remain in this state of worry." She said

"Finally you notice" Luna said "come on I believe that your student has prepared some sort of celebration."

Celestia called two guards to stand at the entrance to her chambers and they left to the party. As they walked off down the corridor Dwayne's hand twitched and his brow furrowed.

[Perspective change: Dwayne's subconscious]

Dwayne had been walking in a jungle for days with his unit back during the colonial war; all the while he couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu… This was to be expected because he had lived through this memory when he was back in Weyland-Yutani labs. He was content to live through this forever, which is until he thought he saw a pink horse thing in the trees.

"Pinkie?" he whispered as she disappeared and everything went to hell. The jungle and the men around him broke down into a white emptiness. If Dwayne looked carefully he could see some sort of clear shards floating in front of his face. Suddenly the emptiness took the form of Celestia's room.

"Wh-where am I?" He groaned bringing a hand to his head. As he looked he could still see some of the shards floating around occasionally causing his vision to fade and flicker.

He shakily rose to his feet and looked at his arms. He stank and wore a shirt that looked like it had been hastily sewn together from a light white material and he still wore his dirty combat trousers and boots. He walked to the door and put his ear to it; outside he heard two voices talking. He opened it and was shocked to see two humans in colonial rebel fatigues holding spears and for some reason what looked like golden roman legionary helmets. For a moment Dwayne contemplated how some rebels had even gotten here and for only a brief second a white flash enveloped his vision and he saw two royal guard ponies standing there but then they changed back into humans.

Dwayne shook his head as if to clear his vision. "what the fuck" he muttered before returning to the task at hand… getting past those guards. Dwayne looked about the room and spotted a massive closet next to the door. He stepped into it and closed the door.

"Here we go…" he whispered to himself as he let out a whistle that caught the attention of the guards.

"What was that?" one asked

"Probably just the princess's bird." The other replied

Dwayne whistled again a little louder and finally he heard the response he wanted.

"I am going in there to check it out."

"Alright" the other guard said "but don't let the princess catch you or we are in for it."

Dwayne watched from his hiding spot as the guard entered the darkened room quietly. He began to move sideways in front of the wardrobe.

"Is anyone there?" the guard whispered, clearly uncomfortable in the low light.

Quick as a flash Dwayne opened the door, grabbed the guard's mouth and dragged him into the closet. He held his hand over the human's mouth until he fainted and Dwayne lay him down on the floor of the closet.

Dwayne then walked to the door and up behind the other guard. He tapped the guards left shoulder and stepped right. As the guard turned to the left Dwayne grabbed the back of his head and rammed it into the wall that the guard was facing knocking him out.

"Two down with no casualties…not bad though I do say so myself." Dwayne said as he grabbed the man's sword. "What the fuck are you boys doing playing with this ancient crap?" and again his vision flickered and he was looking at not the body of a human rebel but that of a royal guard pony. He shook his head once again and the pony turned back into a human rebel.

"Oh man, screw this I'm outta here." Dwayne said taking off down the corridor.

As Dwayne turned to run he didn't notice the guard he had just attacked stir. The guard watched Dwayne shake his head and talk to himself and immediately knew something was wrong. When Dwayne was out of sight the guard crawled to the other end of the corridor and spotted a bell on the wall.

"Aargh!" he winced as his broken muzzle touched the wall. The guard reached up, took hold of the bell and began to ring it. Soon the palace came alive with guards that ran to the source of the noise. When they found the beaten, broken guard they raised the alarm and the palaces defenses came to life. Every exit was sealed as they prepared to stop the rouge human.

[Perspective change: princess Celestia and the other ponies.]

Every pony was laughing and dancing and the princesses gored themselves on the massive cake that sat in the middle of the room.

"This is GREAT!" pinkie screamed bouncing up and down, the sugar rush hadn't completely dissipated yet and she still occasionally went into a talking spasm.

"Yeah we should do this more often!" twilight yelled over the music

"What?!" both Rainbow and Applejack yelled.

"She said- oh never mind!" rarity called back.

Suddenly the door burst open and a guard rushed in panting heavily and turned the music off.

"Princess Celestia and Luna" he said bowing "somepony is beating up our guards and Dwayne is missing!"

"And what of the other humans?" Celestia asked calmly

"They are still in their rooms" the guard replied

"Assemble the guard bring me shining armor, close all the gates and don't let anypony out of this palace." Celestia said

Luna leaned close to her sister and whispered into her ear "do you think it is the griffins?"

"No" Celestia said thinking who could be doing this. "They are peaceful now and the war has taken too heavy a toll for them to risk something like this… it could be those dragons, I heard that Garble is still lose."

"Yes but he was last seen in Saddle Arabia, it would take him too long to travel that distance." Luna replied

"Umm…princess…" twilight said as she and her friends stepped back from the door.

All the ponies in the room heard the sound of ringing metal, the thuds of falling fists and yells.

"Halt you can't go in there" they heard one guard say before a quick clink and thud silenced him.

"What do you want!" another pony called before said pony was sent through the door in a shower of splinters.

To all the ponies astonishment a very angry looking Dwayne walked through the door holding a sword in one hand and a spear in the other.

"Who is in command here!" he yelled as a large group of guards led by shining armor stepped in front of the girls.

"I am" shining said bravely "Dwayne why are you doing this?" he implored

"How in the hell do you know my name REBEL!" Dwayne said, spitting out the last word "come to think of it why are you dressed like Julius Caesar?"

All the ponies in the room exchanged questioning glances at each other before Luna spoke up.

"What do you mean 'rebels'?"

"You guys" Dwayne said exasperated "you know the war that's been going on… forget it, where am I?"

"In the palace." Shining said confused

"You guys have a fucking palace now! That's rich!" Dwayne said

"Dwayne" Celestia said stepping forward "do you remember me?"

Dwayne turned to the voice and saw a woman in a flowing white dress looking back at him. "no ma'am, who are you?"

Celestia took another step forward and her horn began to glow as she tried to clear Dwayne's head but all she saw was a white emptiness as the magic affecting him fought back.

As Celestia tried to get into his head Dwayne was looking for an escape route, and he found one that was slightly discouraging… if he jumped out of the second window to his left then he would land in a massive haystack and probably survive the fall. He decided that as soon as the chick in white got out of the way he would make a break for it.

Soon Celestia tied and stopped trying to clear Dwayne's mind whatever magic was doing this to him was very powerful and exceedingly similar to alicorn magic. Celestia decided to try a different tactic "Dwayne do you remember the battle with the griffins?"

"Griffins…yeah…" he said furrowing his brow as he tried to recall, however every time he tried he would catch glimpses of who the people…ponies really were.

"Oh man" he mumbled shaking his head "you guys are crazy!"

"Hey you're the one who's crazy!" Rainbow Dash said moving up and pointing a hoof at Dwayne. As she did Celestia took a step back and Dwayne saw the opening he was looking for.

"Well uh, it's been great but I gotta get back to my unit." He said moving slowly so as not to agitate the guards.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, narrowing her eyes.

Dwayne smiled and waved his hand "bye-bye!" with that he raised the spear he held and flung it through the window, shattering it.

"No wait!" twilight called as he ran towards the window "we're on the third floor!"

All the ponies rushed to the window and looked down just in time to see Dwayne jump out of the haystack.

"W-what's wrong with him?" Fluttershy asked terrified.

"It's the magic that put the three of them into the coma in the first place" Celestia said as all the ponies went to lock the gates before Dwayne could escape. "Something was powerful enough that it got through to him…even when I couldn't."

"But why is he calling us rebels?" Applejack asked coxing Rarity from her place cowering behind Luna.

"Well… he is awake but the magic is fighting back, mixing his memories with what's really happening to make it a situation believable to him while it tries to regain control over him."

The ponies all arrived at the gate faster than Dwayne thanks is some part to magic and began closing the large doors. As the doors slowly closed Dwayne appeared running around the corner, sprinting towards the closing doors.

"Somepony stop him!" Luna yelled.

The group didn't notice one guard pony raise a bow and point it at Dwayne. Luna noticed at the last moment and tried to stop him by pulling the bow out of his hooves with magic but it was too late. He released the arrow and it found its mark… in Dwayne's right lung. Everypony gasped as Dwayne stumbled and yanked the arrow out, desperately trying to reach the doors.

"Owww-urgh" he moaned taking a few pitiful steps before collapsing, his hand still reaching for the door. The pitiful sight brought tears to the pony's eyes and they rushed down to reach him.

"Dwayne!" gasped Celestia as they all crouched around him.

"C-Celestia?" he managed, the word mixed with the gargling and the red bubbles that had begun to come out of his mouth.

"Yes!" she replied, happy that at least he seemed to be out of the magic's grasp.

"what just hap-happened" Dwayne said before dropping into a string of wet, coughs that splattered blood on Rarity's coat, making her gasp and recoil.

"I-I'm sorry Rarity…" he said weakly

"It's quite alright darling" she replied forcing a smile.

"Say it's great to be back but… has anypony considered getting a doctor!" Dwayne said.

"Oh right!" twilight said as she and Luna rose and teleported somewhere to find one.

"Hey Rainbow did you see that jump back there…" Dwayne wheezed

Rainbow bit her lip and her eyes began watering.

"Rainbow Dash are you okay?" fluttershy asked placing a hoof gingerly on her back.

Rainbow seemed to be holding back a huge emotional outburst and after a few tense seconds she broke and hugged Dwayne tightly, crying the whole time.

"Don't ever do that again!" she cried "there is a difference between what I think is awesome and being downright reckless."

"Alright…please you are forcing the air out of my working lung…" he gasped

"Oh, ha-ha…sorry" she said sheepishly letting go of him.

"Celestia" Dwayne said turning to her "please do something about the pain."

Princess Celestia smiled and her horn glowed faintly and Dwayne sighed in relief.

"Thank you." He gurgled as the doctor arrived with a stretcher borne by Shining Armor and another guard pony.

"Get him to a hospital fast!" the doctor said as they carried him away.

The next morning Dwayne awoke to two things. First his chest hurt like and elephant had just stepped on it and second the all his pony friends were in the room with him sleeping.

"Hey…" he called "everypony wake up."

As they woke up Dwayne realized that he was chained to the bed.

"Sorry Dwayne" Luna said "but we didn't know if you would wake up and try to attack us all."

"No I'm fine now but damn was that weird, it felt so real." He said thinking about what he had seen and done. "Please find the guards I hurt and tell them that I'm sorry, I really thought they were rebels."

"Of course" Twilight smiled, happy that she had her friend back.

Dwayne looked around at all the ponies gathered around him and marveled at their kindness. He had never had anyone other than his squad worry about his health before. It really made him feel content.

"Dwayne" Celestia said moving closer "what did you see that brought you back?"

"To be honest I saw pinkie running and jumping around me. That kind of snapped me out of it." Dwayne said, confused. "How did…"

"Don't ask" Applejack warned.

"Well at least we know how to snap Emily and John out of it." Dwayne said happily.

"Yes and now we can get on with what we had planned before all this horrible war broke out." Celestia said smiling at Dwayne as he raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, you really don't hold back do you?" He said smiling back

"Would you love me if I did?" she retorted.

"You're too wise for your looks." Dwayne stated simply as he lay back down only to have pinkie suddenly appear right in front of his face.

"Does that mean that I can throw you TWO parties!" she said, her face nearly touching Dwayne's.

"Umm…talk to the princess." He said as pinkie began telling Celestia all of her party plans.

As all the other ponies listened to the wedding plans that Celestia was making Luna walked up to Dwayne and began whispering to him.

"Dwayne I need to talk to you about your dreams." She said

"My dreams?" Dwayne asked confused "what about them?"

"Why are they so… violent?" she replied looking dead serious, as if analyzing his mental state.

"Wait" Dwayne said "how do you even know what I am dreaming about?"

"I am the princess of the night; it's my duty to be part of everyponys dreams."

"Okay first off I'm not gonna argue with you about this stuff, magic is really starting to be the answer to everything around here. Second whatever happens in my head stays in my head, I don't mean any of it." He said worried that she had seen some of the more inappropriate things that went on in his head.

"Dwayne I am talking about how many of your dreams are focused on fighting and death." She said seriously

"I don't have that many dreams about killing!" he said "those are memories and the occasional movie or a video game."

"So I should not be worried." She said raising an eyebrow as if judging him.

"NO!" he said

Suddenly the cold exterior melted away and Luna was herself again.

"Good, all is well!" she announced happily before whispering to Dwayne "oh and in case you were wondering I CAN see all of your dreams, even that one you had a while back involving my sister and a bubble bath. You are a very naughty boy."

Luna couldn't help but laugh at the sudden expression that crossed Dwayne's face. One that looked like he had just been told that a chestburster was in him and that it was going to blow his nuts off.

"Then it's arranged, as soon as we can wake up John and Emily then we will begin sending out the invitations… what do you think Dwayne?"

"Umm yeah… that's...great." he said staring ahead blankly.

"…good." Celestia said after a moment glancing from Dwayne's white face to Luna, stifling her laughs behind her hoof. "Now let's get pinkie here to johns room, I think we should rouse him first."

[John's room: a few minutes later.]

As they entered John's room they could tell that he was having a good dream, in fact it must have been really good because he was smiling and sucking his thumb. All the girls 'Awww'ed, rainbow dash gaged and Dwayne started laughing. In fact he laughed so hard that he doubled over, clutching his sides.

"Okay pinkie" twilight said "give it a shot."

"Okie dokie lokie!" she said as they left the room and closed the door.

About five minutes later they heard a yelp of surprise from pinkie and they rushed into the room. They found john crying and hugging pinkie.

"I'm so sorry Penelope!" he cried "I swear I will never lose you again!"

The group's expressions darkened when they realized what john must have been dreaming about.

"Pinkie, try to play along and wake him up carefully, if you snap him out of it he could go into a depressive shock." Dwayne whispered "tell him that it's okay but that you have to go now or something, anything."

Pinkie's eyes were tearing as she spoke softly to john "I'm sorry john but I have to go now…" she said but quickly continued as john let out a gasp and began sobbing. "But it's okay, I love you so much and I will be going to a better place."

John sniffed and wiped the tears from his eyes "p-promise."

"Pinkie promise." Pinkie said resting her head on his shoulder.

"Wait" he said suddenly holding pinkie at arm's length "I know that…"

"Yes!" pinkie said "please remember!"

"Pinkie Pie?" he said as realization dawned on his face.

"Yes!" the group yelled as he looked around confused.

"What happened? I remember the locust missile then…black."

"We went into a coma bro, you're okay now." Dwayne said extending an arm and pulling his friend to his full height.

"Where's Emily?" John asked looking around for her.

"We're going to wake her now." Celestia said with a faint smile as she watched her fiancé support his friend, thinking how much they acted like brothers rather than friends.

As they all walked to Emily's room Celestia and Luna lagged behind the group, whispering about the humans and the upcoming wedding.

"Sister where will you have the wedding?" Luna asked as they trotted behind the rest of the ponies and the two humans.

"Here I believe, and then I want to have the honeymoon in Saddle Arabia." She replied, resolute in her decision.

"Why there?" Luna asked, getting excited already in anticipation of the wedding.

"Because I want to forge closer connections with the royal family there" Celestia said trying to keep a straight face. Finally she couldn't contain it anymore "and because it's really beautiful."

"I knew that you weren't all business." Luna said shaking her head and smiling "when you go please for the love of ponydom do not start working. For Dwayne's sake it's your time to be happy and-" but Luna was cut off as they reached Emily's door.

"Alright" Dwayne said turning "do you thing."

"Okay!" she said happily bouncing into the room.

After five minutes pinkie exited the room quickly closing the door behind her as she ran past Rainbow dash and cowered behind her.

"Is she up?" John asked as pinkie regained her breath.

"WHO WOKE MEEE!" came a yell from behind the door.

"Yeah she's up" Dwayne said as the door slammed open to reveal Emily standing in a nightgown, her hair frazzled and standing on end.

"I was having a really good dream" she moaned.

"Are you okay; you're not hallucinating or anything?" Rarity asked as Emily walked back into her room and slumped onto the bed.

"No" she said blankly staring at the ceiling "coffee…"

"We have some back at the base…" john started

"go get some…Now" she ordered, pointing a finger at the door.

"Right away!" John said as he ran through the door to find a Pegasus that could go and fetch Jenna and the coffee.

Later everypony had gone off to do different thing and Dwayne and Celestia had a moment to themselves. Almost immediately they embraced and kissed deeply before pulling away from one another.

"I've missed you so much!" Celestia said as they embraced.

"Me too" Dwayne whispered. "But soon we will be married and all this will be behind us."

"I can hardly wait" Celestia said smiling back at him.


	17. The Second Royal Wedding

Chapter 17 "The Second Royal Wedding."

It had been a few weeks since Dwayne, John and Emily had come out of the magic induced coma. And even with Jenna and the princess's help they still couldn't find out what caused it. The USCM phycology guide suggested that it was caused by and extreme form of shellshock but the unicorns were adamant that it was caused by a very powerful and ancient magic that predated even princess Celestia. The only being that might understand or even recognize it would be discord and unfortunately he has preoccupied with being garden decor so they couldn't ask him. In the end they had simply chosen to ignore it, thinking that the worst was over. At the moment every pony's mind was preoccupied with the upcoming wedding.

"Darling I wish that you would stop fidgeting!" Rarity said through a mouthful of needles for the seventh time.

"I can't" Dwayne complained "I have been standing for hours! What are you making anyway?"

"Oh just… MY FINEST ENSABLE EVER!" she yelled in triumph, leaping into the air and making Dwayne jump.

"Damn! What's got you so exited?" Dwayne asked covering his ears from the sudden outburst.

"Sorry Dwayne." Rarity sighed as she set down the needles and used magic to pull the unfinished wedding jacket off of Dwayne. "It's just always been my dream to design for royalty." She continued sighing and looking off into space.

"Tell you what." Dwayne said gently rubbing her shoulders "when I'm prince my first order will be to make you the royal designer."

At this Rarity gasped, hugged Dwayne and began crying.

"thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she yelled into his shoulder.

"Sure thing" Dwayne said pushing her off of him.

"just for that I am going to give you the absolute best jacket I can!" she announced happily as she discarded the normal black material and pulled a length of white fabric off of a shelf and floating it to a human shaped mannequin that Jenna had acquired from the shooting range.

[Later at dinner]

"So Dwayne" Applejack said happily Biting down into an apple fritter "how was your time with little miss fussy over here" she said gesturing to a glaring Rarity with her free hoof.

"Great, just great" Dwayne said forcing a smile at a giggling Applejack and a smiling Rarity.

"Umm Dwayne" Fluttershy said in her quiet voice "I was wondering if you wanted the bird choir to be to the left or the right of the alter, because Emma the swallow wants her good side to be facing the crowd."

Dwayne just stared blankly back at Fluttershy and blinked a few time before pointing at the head of the table where Celestia sat sipping at a cup of tea.

"Oh okay thank you Dwayne" Fluttershy said smiling, understanding that he had absolutely nothing to do with planning or organizing the event.

"Say, where are Pinkie and Rainbow Dash" Dwayne said lifting a cup of coffee to his lips and taking a long gulp.

"They wouldn't say." Twilight said tapping a hoof to her chin. "But Dwayne when you become a prince will you be taking on a student?" she said with a glint in her eye as she edged closer.

"Umm I don't know… I mean you learn magic from an immensely powerful immortal with god like powers… what have I got, a vocabulary of USCM swearing and basic training."

"You shouldn't underestimate yourself." Luna said

"Listen to my sister Dwayne." Celestia said "you won Equestria's first war and you probably understand more scientific knowledge than anypony else on the planet!"

"Not to mention that you have more drive to defend those you care about than anypon-anybody I have ever met." Rarity said giving Dwayne a small hug.

"Yeah, and y'all don't complain when the goin' gets tough." Applejack said placing a hoof on Dwayne's shoulder "that's more than ah can say about some of the Apple family."

"Thanks you guys" Dwayne said smiling slightly.

"I have to go and fetch some scrolls from my bedchamber, I won't be long." Princess Celestia said, rising from her seat and leaving the dining hall.

[Perspective change: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in Celestia's room]

"I'm telling you pinkie we can type anything on it and it will show us pictures of it!" Rainbow said as they sneaked into princess Celestia's room.

"But won't he get mad if we touch his alien, glowing…"

"Computer, Pinkie that's what he called it." Rainbow said as they found the small laptop resting next to a pile of scrolls.

"Are you sure that Dwayne won't get mad if we play with his thing, I mean its private." Pinkie said feeling wary using the laptop.

"Oh come on its not like there is anything we can do that's that bad." Rainbow Dash said laughing it off.

The screen started up and almost immediately asked for a password.

"Oh man!" dash moaned.

"And what do we have here?" came an ominous voice from the doorway.

Both Pinkie and Rainbow gasped and jumped into the air. They span around to see princess Celestia giving them a look akin to the one she gave twilight when she had a little run-in with a doll called Smarty Pants.

"Oh princess…." Rainbow began

"We were just…umm" Pinkie started before Celestia cut her off.

"Do you know the penalty for intruding in my private rooms?" she said advancing on them.

"Oh please princess we're sorry!" Pinkie begged throwing herself at the princess's feet.

"Please don't send us to the moon." both pinkie and dash begged. They were about to resign to their fate when the princess's surprised laughter snapped them both out of their groveling.

"You seem to have taken a leaf from twilights book" she said "I would never banish you, where you get these delusions are quite beyond me."

"They why did-" Rainbow started.

"I wanted to see how you would react" Celestia said waving her hoof "I must say the results were funny!" she said suppressing a snort of laughter.

"Okay, okay you don't have to rub it in." Rainbow Dash said, blushing.

"I'm sorry… but still banishment to the moon isn't as big a threat since the humans got here… I mean even if I did Dwayne would just fly up there and rescue you." Celestia said before once again looking at the two ponies with a questioning look on her face. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Well we wanted to see Dwayne's computer." Pinkie said ashamed.

"Actually I wanted to have a look as well, he has been very secretive about what he does on that thing and always turns it off when I try to see." Princess Celestia said as the three ponies crowded around the laptop.

"Hey look" pinkie said "there's a hint, click on it!"

Princess Celestia used her magic as a substitute for hand and clicked on the hint button. After she did all it said was 'Home'

"Home, what does that mean?" Rainbow dash asked.

"Oh, oh did Dwayne ever say where he was born?" Pinkie said, exited.

"No… but he did mention a country!" Celestia said as she typed in 'America'

(X) INVALID

"Hmm…wait…Dwayne did say something about 'home' way back when we were still looking in his crashed spaceship!" Rainbow said, realization downing on her face.

"What?!" both pinkie and Celestia asked, getting very excited.

"Earth" Rainbow said simply.

(CLEARANCE TO ALL NON-MILITARY FUNCTIONS APPROVED.)

"Rainbow you did it!" pinkie exclaimed happily as the computer started up.

As soon as the small device got started a grid appeared with different things written in each box.

As they looked down the list trying to find something of vague interest, however most of them seemed to be basic functions. One was the inventory list for the HOPE colony another was weapons descriptions. However one that did catch their eye was one titled 'gifts'.

"What do we have here?" Celestia said to herself as she opened the folder but just before it could open a hand suddenly slammed the laptop shut, making the ponies all jump slightly.

"Dwayne!" Celestia gasped "I-I was just…"

"No need" he said "I've been standing here for two minutes, I heard everything."

"We're sorry" they all said hanging their heads.

"Hey it's okay" he said understandingly "but please respects my privacy more, some things on there are not for your eyes." He continued his features darkening.

"Girls you might want to go to bed now, it's late and you need your rest for the big day tomorrow." Celestia said smiling in a motherly way.

"Goodnight princess! Goodnight Dwayne!" pinkie and rainbow called as the trotted out of the room.

"Now then we should get some sleep Rarity wants to do another session for my wedding jacket." Dwayne said when they were alone.

Celestia sighed and lay down on the bed. It had been a very long day and ever since the ponies had heard about the wedding she had almost no time to herself outside of royal court.

"Wow, you look like a marine that just got off of guard duty." Dwayne said stripping to a t-shirt and boxers.

"Dwayne I have never realized just how xenophobic ponies are in big cities like Canterlot and Manehatten" she said removing her crown.

"They'll come around." Dwayne said putting and arm around Celestia's neck and kissing her behind her ear, making her coo.

"I should hope so" Celestia said smiling as she magically pulled the covers up and extinguished the candles and fire.

~.~

The next day Dwayne had finally reached the room Rarity had taken and converted into her own personal boutique after half an hour of walking. Dwayne stood in the middle of the room and prepared for the inevitable hours of measurements. However today wasn't as bad as it was normally because Rarity seemed to be very talkative today.

"Oh my, this is going to look just grand." She said flinging a tape measure over Dwayne's head.

"If you say so." Dwayne said smiling.

"Oh I really need to hurry though the wedding is in three days!" she exclaimed removing the white and blue cloth from Dwayne's body. "I never would have guessed that Princess Celestia would marry!"

"Neither did I, let alone to a grunt like me." He said

"About that, why do you call yourselves grunts?" Rarity asked cocking her head to the side slightly.

"It's a nick name for the lower ranking troops, they call us that because we talk a lot when we do heavy lifting… though they don't admit it grunts are basically expendable cannon fodder." Dwayne said a ghost of a smile on his face.

"But I heard you say 'leave no man behind' or something like that" Rarity said.

"That's on a smaller level; I mean the suits at the top. They command thousands of troops; a few hundred to them is nothing."

"Humans can be really cruel…" Rarity said

"You have no idea" Dwayne laughed "are we nearly done?"

"Actually it should be done today; I just need to make a few more touches." Rarity said happily.

"Right then!" Dwayne said relief present in his sigh. "There is one thing though… what are you making for Celestia?"

"Oh, I am not making anything" Rarity said slightly disappointed "she said that she wanted to make her own, I was wondering what she had planned."

"Well we'll know by tomorrow." Dwayne said "thank you rarity."

"My pleasure darling" Rarity said smiling as they both left to find the rest of the girls.

When they did they were all seated around the fireplace in the dining hall showing off their dresses, they had all decided to go with a familiar theme. So they wore dresses similar to those from princess Cadence's wedding. John, Jenna and Emily had also arrived and were admiring the others cloths while they wore the white, gold and black formal naval attire. John, Dwayne's right hand man even had a sword he had had made for him by the palaces blacksmith. All in all they all looked very formal; they had to look good because there were still some ponies skeptical of the paring.

"Well I guess we're ready for tomorrow, huh" Emily has happily, jumping about in her usual manner.

"Jenna, you got security?" Dwayne asked

"Yup, got it all arranged, the royal guard get the guns we modified and radio sets. All the other royals bring their own guards." She said smiling "and we got the drop ship if we need a quick getaway."

"Excellent!" Dwayne said happily rubbing his hands together. "now we should get some rest, I wouldn't want to be tired."

"Well I don't mind taking a nap" Rainbow said stretching her wings and arching he back like a cat.

"C'mon let's get outta these here cloths and get some rest." Applejack said as they all went to bed. Dwayne was just about to go when he felt a hand pull him back.

"Oh no, no, no" John said "you ain't getting outta this. I know they don't have nightclubs worth speaking of but you are getting a bachelor party."

"Where, we don't have anywhere to go, and what would we do anyway?" Dwayne asked

"I have a crate of beer and some other spirits I found in the base…" John replied.

"Well maybe I'll have one drink…ing contest."

"That's my boy!" john yelled happily.

[Six hours later]

"sho then I shaid, hey ten dorrah whats up wiv dat." John slurred as they stumbled out of the drop ship.

Dwayne just smiled happily and stumbled forward. And they both entered the dining hall before finally collapsing into princess Celestia and Luna's chairs.

"G-good night" Dwayne sighed as fell into the sweet embrace of sleep.

[Next morning]

The princesses, mane 6 and the rest of the girls came down the stairs talking and laughing with each other while contemplating the events of the day. They were looking forward to a good breakfast, that is until they saw both dwayne and john slumped in the princesses chairs.

"Why are they asleep here?" Fluttershy asked quietly, walking up to john, who was smiling in his sleep. "Umm…Johnny…please wake up you're in the princesses seat."

John didn't react save for smacking his lips, the cigarette miraculously holding its place in his mouth.

Jenna walked up to Dwayne and yanked an empty bottle from his sleeping hand. "Oh hell…" she groaned, tossing the bottle to Emily who sniffed it and recoiled, scrunching up her nose.

"What the hell is this!" she said loudly "it's like they watered down vodka with rubbing alcohol.

"What's wrong with them?" twilight asked

"It's a human condition called being totally hammered." Emily said.

"Should we move them to beds?" Luna asked.

"Oh no!" Jenna laughed "Celestia could you brighten the sun for me please."

Princess Celestia was confused but did just that and brightened the sun; she wanted some more warmth anyway.

"Pinkie give me that megaphone please." Jenna asked as pinkie produced the object in question from absolutely nowhere.

"On three?" Emily asked as she took her position by the curtains.

"Yep, one…two…THREE!"

Emily flung open the curtains, letting the extremely bright sun flood into the room as Jenna began yelling into the megaphone.

"Wakey, wakey rise and shine!" she yelled "guess who's wedding day it is!"

The ponies thought that what they were seeing was hilarious. John woke suddenly, screamed and flung himself off of the chair and curled into the fetal position, Dwayne opened his eyes, screamed, ran over to a bowl of punch and dunked his head in it.

"THIS IS THE POLICE WE KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING!" Jenna yelled into the megaphone.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" John muttered rocking back and forth with his hands over his ears. John moaned as fluttershy cradled his head in an attempt to calm him.

Celestia's horn glowed and the two males stopped writhing in agony, opened their eyes and sat up.

"I need to learn that…" john said pointing at Celestia.

"Dwayne your dress cloths are ready, I think they may be the finest you have ever worn." Rarity said smiling. "Oh and princess the, umm 'special' order you made is also finished."

"Wait, I thought you said Tia was making her own dress" Dwayne moaned rubbing his head

"I did" Celestia said happily

"Then what did Rarity make you?" he asked confused

"Oh that's a secret" she whispered huskily in her ear as she smiled mischievously, Dwayne noticed her remove Penelope's ring from her horn and give it to John who nodded and walked off.

"Breakfast is served." A waiter said, interrupting the conversation.

"Well you should eat, we have to go and get our clothes on." Dwayne said as he grabbed John's collar and dragged him to Rarity's room where she had his cloths ready, to be honest Dwayne was curious as to what she had made him. When they finally reached her room Dwayne and John gasped. In the center, on a mannequin was a white jacket with a royal blue trim and silver buttons that went all the way from the collar to just above the hip. It extended into tails that stopped about halfway down his shin. The inside of the jacket was lined in blue as well. Under the jacket were a white shirt and a red belt that looped on the outside to provide some flair.

"Holy shit" John said glancing between his white uniform and the jacket. "why don't I get one…" he said walking up to it.

"You aren't about to become a prince." Dwayne said as he undressed and grabbed the new cloths.

Later they both met up with Jenna and Emily who were both absolutely speechless when they saw Dwayne.

"Damn man!" Jenna laughed "if you showed up to me first time looking like that you would have had a wild ride!" she joked.

"Yeah, yeah so what's gonna happen here?" he asked.

"Well you and the rest of us are gonna go to the throne room in the palace where you stand at the front and wait for your bride, John is the best man. He has the ring." Jenna explained.

"So that's why she gave you the ring…" Dwayne mused.

"Yeah, plus you should see the ring she made you, it's gotta be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. " Emily said.

"Yup, so anyway you go in there with us and mingle, then when you hear the trumpets play you go to the podium where you wait for your bride. And then you say 'I DO.' Got it" Jenna said with an air of finality.

Emily screamed happily, hopping up and down before grabbing Dwayne's collar and pulling him into her face "and if you say anything other than that I will personally see to it that you will never have kids."

"Okay, jeez you guys want me to get married more than I do." Dwayne said gently pushing Emily off of him.

"Nah, just want you to be happy." Emily shrugged.

"Alight" Dwayne said letting out a massive sigh "remember some ponies don't like this happening so let's put on a good show, now we aren't armed so that should convey the right message, john I don't want that sword of yours to leave its sheathe on my wedding day." Dwayne said sternly.

"You got it boss" John said.

"Here we go." Dwayne said as he pushed the doors open.

The throne room was filled with guests, Dwayne immediately saw the Representatives from each kingdom, as well as a few he hadn't seen before. Everypony in the room went silent as the humans entered. Then, like a wave whispers broke out among the ponies. Some were good and some were very rude indeed.

"Oh, I didn't know that they were this handsome!" one mare whispered to another as they walked by.

Dwayne suppressed a laugh when he heard them but had to suppress a snarl when he saw prince blueblood in his formal attire. He only caught snippets of what he was saying like "-didn't know what was going through my aunts mind." And "barbaric apes"

Dwayne was about to teach him a lesson when Queen Chrysalis suddenly appeared in front of him flanked by her guards.

"Congratulations Dwayne!" she said happily "oh I wish I had met you first, oh the fun we could have had." She said winking at him

Dwayne picking up on the casual, humorous flirting played along "oh really now?"

"Well…" Chrysalis said changing into Celestia "I could be your wildest fantasy…" then she became Luna "maybe you like more authority…or" suddenly she became all of the mane six in turn "something a little more wild…"

"Oh WOW" Dwayne said shocked "umm…"

"Oh you silly foal!" Chrysalis laughed "the look on your face…"

"You know you had me there." Dwayne said, exasperated.

"Hello." Said a timid yet elegant voice.

Dwayne turned and saw a female griffin standing in front of him wearing a crown and a red cape.

"Oh queen Vivien how good to see you." Chrysalis smiled

"Good evening to you as well queen Chrysalis" the griffin replied quietly before turning to Dwayne.

"Ah yes you must be this 'hero' I have heard so much about."

"Yes that would be me." Dwayne said "I apologize for the lives I took from your citizens, it was…"

"King Skylar's fault." queen Vivien spat. "He was such a chick, never knew when to leave the nest!"

Dwayne smiled as he realized that queen Vivien was going to be a far better ruler than Skylar ever was.

"Dwayne!" Applejack called from her place near all the Apple family "it's nearly time!"

"Damn!" Dwayne muttered as he ran to the podium where John, Emily and Jenna were already waiting. Opposite them on the stairs the mane six stood with Twilight at the head and Applejack just joining them and the bottom.

Then the doors at the end of the hall opened and the cutie mark crusaders hopped in trailing flower petals just as they did on Cadence's wedding. Then Celestia entered and made everypony gasp. She was wearing what looked like a shimmering golden dress made of pure light which produced a rainbow at every flick and flutter of the fabric, if it was fabric. Her mane shimmered and danced on its own and she bore a smile akin to that of the sun itself.

"My god…"John muttered nudging Dwayne who only gulped.

Luna took her place at the very top of the stairs and grinned as Celestia finally reached the top, standing paralleled to Dwayne.

She flashed him a sideways glance and winked, whispering "you look nice."

"To you, I mean you too." Dwayne said as Luna cleared her throat.

"FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!" she yelled in her royal Canterlot voice before Celestia gave her the tone it down motion with her hoof.

"Oh sorry…ahem, Fillies and Gentlecolts we are here today to celebrate the union of your princess of the sun and the human warrior." When Luna mentioned Dwayne more whispers broke out before Luna raised her voice more "who has saved Equestria and our lives multiple times, without him we would be under griffon rule…or worse." She said thinking of the Xenomorphs as the crowd quieted down.

"Please present the rings and the vows." She said as John stepped forward to Dwayne and handed him the ring that he used to propose to Penelope, it was a simple gold. Made for a human finger so it only went halfway down Celestia's horn but it held on and actually complemented her crown and mane. Dwayne took a step forward and placed the ring on Celestia's horn.

He looked her in the eye and, not caring that everypony else in the hall had gone quiet to listen said his vow.

"Celestia I promise to give you whatever your heart desires, and to make you happy. But most of all I promise to keep you safe; I will protect you and everypony in equestria to my dying breath. I hope you accept this ring and me as your husband because I have nothing else to offer." He said in barely more than a whisper but everypony heard it and the sincerity in the simple statement.

Celestia had a tear in her eye and she said "I do" then she stood at her full height, extended her brilliant white wings and said

"Dwayne you have discovered something so powerful, so pure that not even the power of friendship can best it, you have discovered and awoken love in my heart. A love different to the one that I feel for my subjects, I feel the need to protect you and make you feel loved from now to the end of time. I have never begged for anything in my entire life… but as the princess of the sun I am begging you to be my husband."

"Y-yes." Dwayne choked. Celestia levitated a shimmering golden ring that seemed to glow with its own aura and gently slid it onto his finger where it fit perfectly.

"It's made from a piece of the actual sun, it will light your way forever." She whispered to him.

"I now present the prince and princess of Equestria!" Luna said happily and the couple kissed affectionately to loud cheers.

"Let's get this party started!" Vinyl scratch yelled from behind a massive podium as a loud happy tune began to play and all the ponies flooded into the gardens.

"Wow man, two months and you're married huh." John said slapping Dwayne's back as they both laughed at Princess Celestia who was being swamped by all of her subjects who dragged her away from her husband.

"Well she is fighting back." Emily said as they watched Celestia recruit twilight and her friends as bouncers who pushed all of the ponies back.

Jenna suddenly brought her hand up to a headset she was wearing and said "alright, keep an eye out though; you never know what might happen."

"Who was that?" Dwayne asked.

"Oh some of the security I posted around here, HOPE and Ponyville, they're just calling in, though I don't really know what might happen in Ponyville or HOPE, I mean all of the residents came here." She replied.

"Hey man, check that out!" John said pointing at Pinkie who seemed to be using a tablecloth as a conveyer belt to shovel mountains of dessert into her mouth.

"You should take her on in an eating contest." Dwayne said as John walked off in Pinkie's direction.

"Does he know that when you did that the girls found you half dead?" Emily asked, recalling the story that twilight told her.

"Eh." Dwayne shrugged "he should be fine; I mean he's a glutton."

"Dwayne darling!" Rarity suddenly yelled from next to him "I just wanted to show my friends here your beautiful jacket."

Dwayne turned and was introduced to two stallions, Fancy Pants and Filthy Rich (the latter made Dwayne want to laugh)

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Dwayne said smiling and bowing.

"Oh no need to bow to us your majesty, you're a prince now." Fancy Pants said

"Just because I'm a prince doesn't mean that I can't be polite to others." Dwayne replied.

The ponies smiled in approval and walked away with rarity discussing something about cloths.

Suddenly there was a loud boom and a large rainbow trailing through the sky and rainbow dash suddenly landed a few feet away from Dwayne.

"So what did ya think of my wedding present?" she asked pointing at the rainbow that arched above their heads.

"Cool! Wait we get wedding presents?!" Dwayne said.

Suddenly a bright flash appeared next to him and Celestia suddenly materialized. "Of course we do!" she said, happy that she had finally escaped all of the ponies and other well-wishers.

"Dwayne I thought you might like this." Twilight said as ponies began to gather around them bearing gifts. "But I guess it's more for you than Princess Celestia since she lived through most of it.

Dwayne opened her present to reveal a book titled 'The History of Equestria.' It was a very handsome book and the covers were made of a very intricately carved dark wood.

"Thank you so much twilight!" Dwayne said hugging her. Then he turned and saw Princess Luna step forwards with two golden boxes floating in front of her.

"Sister, Dwayne, I cannot tell you how happy I am for you, so I made you these." she levitated a box to each of them and they gasped when they opened them. Inside Celestia's was a beautiful necklace with a crescent moon on it. It you looked closely it had a small engraving that read 'I will always love you sister.' It was made with a metal that Dwayne had never seen before, bluish silver that looked like the light emitted from the moon itself.

"Oh… sister!" Celestia said a tear welling up in her eye as they embraced.

"What's in yours Dwayne?" Scootaloo asked from Dwayne's ankles.

Dwayne opened the box to reveal a small hatchet that resembled a tomahawk but the blade was that same material as the necklace and was shaped like a crescent moon that joined the wood at the tips. Under that a flowing blue feather seemed to hang blowing in the wind. But Dwayne realized that it was no feather… it was a lock of Luna's hair, forever flowing. He looked at Luna who said.

"The metal I used to forge them can only be found on the moon, I got it when I was stuck there. It's almost indestructible so you can kill those monsters with it without it melting. I would have made a sword but there wasn't enough of the metal, so it was either this or a dagger. Do you like them?" she asked sounding almost worried. She was briskly cut off when Dwayne suddenly launched himself at her and embraced her so tightly that she had to gasp for air.

"Thank you…sister." Dwayne whispered in her ear making her start bouncing around them giggling happily. This elicited many curious glances.

Then rarity came up. "I think you both know what my gifts have been." Both Dwayne and Celestia nodded, Dwayne looking at his jacket and wondering what the mystery present for Celestia was.

"Look at mine!" pinkie said happily as she flicked the cloth off of a massive cake with a chocolate mousse moose head on it.

"Gee thanks Pinkie" Dwayne said eyeing the cake suspiciously before glancing at john who had passed out covered in frosting. "I'll eat it later" he said hugging her as Princess Celestia took a massive bite.

"Umm…here, we made this for you together. I hope you like it." Fluttershy said embarrassed at all of the attention as she and applejack gave Dwayne a jar filled with a golden jelly.

"It's made from mah rarest golden apples and fluttershy's best honey. Y'all won't find another jar like this in all Equestria." Applejack said stepping forward and handing the jar to Dwayne. Dwayne was about to hug them but Celestia beat him to it and drew the two smaller ponies in with her wings, embracing them. "Thank you, we really appreciate this."

"Dwayne" Jenna said in a voice that seemed to crack with emotion "we made you this, its for HOPE." All three humans held up a flag that was brilliant white with a silver eagle on it, its wings spread wide.

"Thanks guys!" Dwayne said happily taking the flag and putting an arm around celestia.

"Ahem!"

The all turned to see Shining Armor and princess Cadence standing there smiling.

"Princess Cadence!" Twilight yelled running up to the princess and doing a bizarre type of club handshake that made Dwayne laugh.

"So you are the one that stole my aunt's heart, hmm." Cadence said smiling as a magical glow enveloped both Dwayne and her horn.

"His love is true, and he is so handsome too." She said

"Oh I like her." Dwayne laughed.

Cadence suddenly embraced him "welcome to the family, I haven't felt this much love since my wedding."

"Hey Dwayne, or should I say Prince Dwayne now." Shining asked smiling.

"Just Dwayne's fine thanks; I don't really like all this prince stuff." He replied.

"Ah well" Shining said slapping his back "we got you two presents! One is being put up in the palace right now. It's a stain glass window made by the crystal ponies; it's of your marriage." He said happily.

"Well…thanks." Dwayne said shaking his hoof.

"Oh and we got you this" Princess Cadence said stepping aside to reveal a cot made entirely out of crystal.

Dwayne and Celestia both glanced at each other before turning a brilliant shade of red. Thankfully a change in the music provided a way out as a slow romantic dance began playing and princess Celestia wrapped a wing around Dwayne and dragged him onto the dance floor.

"But I can't dance!" Dwayne protested

"Then go back to THAT conversation." Celestia muttered as Dwayne suddenly froze and began dragging Celestia.

"Show me the steps" he whispered as she held each other close and began to move slowly.

Dwayne's biggest problem was trying to imitate the steps of something with four legs so he finally gave up and imitated the movements of her forelegs which worked well considering the ease with which they both floated across the dance floor.

When the music finally stopped they realized that they were the only ones dancing and that everything was quiet.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts give it up for the bride and groom!" Vinyl yelled into the microphone as all the ponies began clapping.

Later Dwayne and Celestia had taken a seat inside the palace with the rest of their friends, the cutie mark crusaders had all fallen asleep on Dwayne's lap and he held a snoring Sweetie Belle in his arms.

All the ponies couldn't help but smile at how he handled them like they weighed nothing. And when the time came for all the ponies to go home Rarity and Big Macintosh walked up do Dwayne and picked up their younger siblings. Finally Rainbow Dash walked up and grabbed the sleeping Scootaloo, laying her on her back.

"Well thanks for the awesome party you guys, but I need to get Scootaloo back to Cloudsdale." She said as she flew off into the darkening sky.

"Well this was a good day." Dwayne said as he stopped waving when Rainbow disappeared behind some clouds.

"Well it's about to get better." Celestia said as they began walking to their bedroom.

In Celestia's room Dwayne was removing all of his cloths and thinking about the day. He was quickly shaken from his thoughts when Celestia emerged from the bathroom wearing a very revealing pink lingerie set.

"Where did you get that?" Dwayne asked raising an eyebrow.

"I had Rarity make me something romantic." She said "do you like it?"

"I think we both know the answer to that." Dwayne said leaping at her and tearing the lingerie off so viciously that he was sure he tore it. At the moment though it didn't matter to him, but at the last minute Dwayne lost his nerve. He stopped and Celestia noticed. Last time they had done this she had practically forced herself on him this time however he was intent on being the one to please her more than the other way around.

"It's alright Dwayne" Celestia whispered "let it come naturally."

Taking a deep steadying breath Dwayne squirmed down beside her, and pulled her against his chest. Wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into another kiss. He twisted his head slightly to the right and Celestia mimicked his movement opening her mouth slightly. As the kissed her tongue softly greeted his in a passionate kiss while her hooves began lightly stroking at his sides.

Celestia made a faint sound between a croon and a hum as Dwayne moved his hand down her stomach and firmly pressing it up against her. Celestia gasped and her wings suddenly springing up before she forced them down again. Dwayne gently rotated his hand against the soft mound between the princesses legs as a slight wetness made him shudder in anticipation.

The princess obviously didn't take to well to the small pause in the stimulation as she began to grind on his hand, giving a soft whimper and kissing him needily, crushing her body against his.

Dwayne suddenly drew back from the kiss, panting slightly gently nudging Celestia to roll onto her back. Celestia didn't know exactly what he had planned but she obeyed after a moment and rolled onto her back. Watching Dwayne with a raised brow wondering what he had planned.

Dwayne lay down on top of her and began nipping and biting gently at Celestia neck, making her moan quietly. As Dwayne began to trail down her body she finally realized what he had planned she opened her eyes wide and gasped, her wings suddenly blew out to the sides with a loud *pomf*.

Dwayne remained unfazed as he finally reached her powerful hind legs. He took a deep breath and dove between her legs, licking at her sex. Celestia gasped again, arched her back and used one hoof to stifle her own moans while the other roughly shoved Dwayne's head in harder.

As Dwayne dragged his tongue along her wetness he was amused by the little gasps and squeals that escaped her hoof. Save to say that the feeling of an immensely powerful being such as Celestia twisting and squirming under his hands to be more than arousing.

Celestia panted hard, her mouth hanging open slightly, stifled gasps and whimpers dying against her hoof as her wings fluttered at her sides; her eyes clenched shut as her back arched to an unbelievable angle. Dwayne took this as a sign that he was doing something right and began licking at her harder as he felt her tense and quiver, he suddenly pressed his head right into her wet slit, touching the top where all the marines claimed the most sensitive spot to be.

Suddenly Celestia's pupils dilated and even her hoof couldn't stifle the cry of delight that escaped her as she arched violently, her entire body shaking as a sudden burst of liquids spilled from her vagina, leaking all over her quarters and being absorbed into her now messy tail.

Dwayne rose from his spot and went to get a towel to clean his face off. When he came back the princess had just recovered and was panting heavily.

"Thank you… Dwayne…I enjoyed that." She panted

Dwayne smiled "it was my pleasure." His smile widened when Celestia a flipped over, standing and lowering her chest to the bed itself, splaying her hind legs and shifting her tail out of the way.

"RAVAGE ME!" she yelled as Dwayne stared at the dripping wetness of her marehood.

Dwayne's eyes widened, when he was licking her he couldn't actually see that much of her, just her stomach when he opened his eyes but now there she was in front of him and he became aware that his member was now almost so erect that it ached. Shuddering he gently stroked her bottom with a hand before pouncing on her. It was so unexpected that Celestia nearly collapsed under the weight on her hind legs but thankfully the mares skeletal structure was built for this and immediately locked she joints so that she could bear the weight.

Dwayne hissed at the sensations, the extreme tightness and wetness of the soft walls that seemed to milk him for all he was worth as he sank it into her, burying his face in her mane gasping harshly for a moment as his legs quivered, threatening to give out before he grabbed Celestia around the middle and steadied himself.

"You ready?" he asked quietly and affectionately.

"Yes, give me your foals." She whispered back.

Dwayne let out an heated growl as he worked his hips back and forth , panting into her mane as he drew back and humped forwards, each shove pushing him deeper inside, stretching the princesses tight channel.

Celestia quivered, her hips instinctively thrusting back into Dwayne every time he pushed forward. She groaned, exhausted and yet so aroused that she didn't or couldn't stop. She stiffened as she felt him stretch her out deeper than the last time they had done this, his passage eased by the fluids dripping from the princesses opening onto the bed in thick, drool-like strands that stained her bed as she strained back against him.

Already Celestia could feel herself nearing an orgasm again, crying out into the air so loudly that they were bound to wake someone but didn't care at the moment. She felt herself clench down around him, squeezing his cock that grinded deep within her, feeling small squirts of pre-cum dribble out of him as he moaned loudly, mixing with her juices. As he felt himself get near his motions got rougher as she shoved in with all his might, ravaging Celestia body. She whimpered faintly in a post-orgasmic daze as she felt him shorten his strokes she clenched again as she was forced into another orgasm, squealing out helplessly.

Dwayne's grunts and moans got louder and louder as he felt his stomach tighten and his breath catch. Celestia stiffened as she suddenly felt a warmth within her as Dwayne fired his load into her. He quivered and shook as her body milked him dry. Celestia marveled at his muscles spasming on top of her as he lent sideway and pulled himself and Celestia onto the bed, not removing himself from her he helped her roll over to face him. She could still feel him spilling out into her and she smiled.

"Are you finished yet?" she asked

"I…I think I'll stay here thanks." He said yawning and falling asleep with only three words before he blacked out "I love you…"

"Celestia smiled and lay her head down on his chest, still occasionally feeling him twitch or shift within her as she finally let sleep claim her.

[downstairs: main entrance hall.]

The three remaining humans began walking to the drop ship.

"Ok guards you can all come back now we're done here" she said into the microphone, receiving positive replies from all the sentries but the ones at the HOPE colony.

"Yo, HOPE you read me!" she said a little louder "God damn it…" she mumbled when she received no reply. The stupid pony had probably fallen asleep on duty or something.

[HOPE Colony: bordering the everfree forest.]

A guard pony awoke with a start in the courtyard of the colony. He didn't remember what had happened to him but he must have dosed off, the only thing he felt was a heavy pain in his chest.

"Must've slept on something." He mumbled as he stood shakily and walked into the base. However as he entered he suddenly felt a stab of pain and clutched his chest.

"Where is that doctor." he mumbled walking further into the base, not knowing that the steps he took would be his last.


	18. No Hope

Chapter 18 "No Hope."

Dwayne awoke to a pleasant ache in his body and the soft rays of the sun warming his face as they trickled through the white satin curtains. He moaned as he opened one eye and saw Celestia smiling down at him.

"I am never going to get up before you am I?" he moaned.

"Not unless you get up when Luna's moon is still high in the sky." Celestia said smiling even wider. "Come on help me up or we will miss breakfast."

Dwayne moaned again holding Celestia tight and burying his face in his pillow.

"Dwayne now." She said more firmly, using magic to pull the covers off of them.

"Urgh, Fine!" Dwayne finally said, standing and putting on his cloths.

"Umm Dwayne…" Celestia said shyly

"Yeah?" Dwayne said tiredly putting on the rest of his cloths.

"We need to destroy these sheets." She said smiling slyly.

"I'll get the flamethrower later." Dwayne replied leaning over to kiss Celestia.

[Ten minutes later: dining hall.]

Dwayne and Celestia entered the dining hall smiling and laughing, talking about the wedding and the ponies that they had met. They were in a good mood… until they saw Luna sitting at the head of the table, dark rings so prominent under her eyes that you could see them clearly even with her dark coat.

"Sister… are you alright?" Celestia asked, concerned.  
"No sister I am not!" she said angrily. "I did not get any sleep last night! You were making too much noise!"

"Oh… sorry about that." Dwayne said apologetically rubbing the back of his neck.

"Tis already forgiven." Luna sighed, sitting back down "but please I prefer my nights quiet."

Dwayne smiled "will do ma'am."

As they all sat down to breakfast and chatted about varying unimportant topics. Dwayne was just about to bite into a plain butter and jam sandwich when a guard walked up to him.

"Your majesty, I thought you might want to know that a Pegasus called Rainbow Dash is here looking for you."

"Thank you; please show her in. and you really don't have to call me majesty." Dwayne said smiling.

The guard grinned back and gave a quick bow to the princesses before leaving the room.

"I must say your humility and grace befits that of a prince of Equestria." Luna said smiling at Dwayne.

Suddenly rainbow dash burst into the room, panting as if she had just flown a marathon.

"DWAYNE!" she yelled running up to him and flinging herself at him, her hoofs thrown around his neck as she sobbed into his chest.

"Whoa! Dash" he said comfortingly stroking her mane "calm down what's wrong?"

"They're back!" she cried. Nopony could remember seeing dash this distraught "those monsters are back! When John, Jenna and Emily got back we were there to say hello and asked if we could sleep over. But when we got to the colony… the blood!" she broke down again crying.

"Dwayne." Celestia said sternly "how could this have happened?"

"I don't know but we have to get everypony out of the neighboring towns." He replied.

"I-it's okay, John, Jenna and Emily said that they were putting it into quarantine or something like that and they went in, we haven't seen them or any monster since." Dash said as she finally gave in to the exhaustion.

Dwayne stood, gently lay Rainbow Dash down on a sofa, walked over to the windows and stared out towards hope.

"At least it's contained." Dwayne said.

Luna and Celestia exchanged glances before looking at Dwayne. They had both seen his posture before. It was when Dwayne went into full combat mode; it was almost as if he had a long blood feud with these creatures.

"We have to go in and pull them out." He said "then we blow that place straight to hell."

"But Dwayne that is the last piece of your home!" Luna said, shocked that anypony or rather anyone would be willing to destroy their own home.

"They are an infestation, this is my home now… and I will sacrifice all to protect it." Dwayne said. Suddenly he yelled angrily and put his arm through the window, causing it to bleed.

"HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!" he yelled pulling his arm back through the window.

"Dwayne!" Celestia yelled in her royal canterlot voice "you can't help that now! But what you can do is stop it!" suddenly Celestia realized just how loud she had been and noticed Dwayne's bleeding arm "you're hurt!" she yelled rushing to his side and tending to the wound while Dwayne had a thoughtful look on his face.

"I have to do this alone." He said.

"No." Celestia said not looking up from the wound.

"If we send in guards they will be killed." Dwayne said

"NO, I'm going with you." Celestia said

"What!" Dwayne said almost laughing "you can't be serious…"

"Dwayne when you find them you will need me to teleport out of there, and my magic can come in handy opening the doors that your friends conveniently locked down." Celestia replied.

"Sister please don't go in there." Luna pleaded

"Listen to your sister, you are my wife. I won't let anything hurt you." Dwayne said hugging her.

"Then I have nothing to worry about." Celestia said looking Dwayne in the eye.

"I-I….FINE!" Dwayne gave in "we need to find you some armor and I need weapons." He said as they walked out of the room, leaving Luna to care for the sleeping Rainbow Dash.

About an hour later Dwayne met up with Celestia so that they could get going. At first Dwayne was shocked, he had never seen Celestia condoning any form of violence before and yet here she was clad in shining golden armor, a long curved sword in its scabbard at her side and a large shield on her back.

"Wow…" he said shocked

"I got this as a birthday pleasant from the dragons; I never knew what to use it for until now." She said with a small smile looking at Dwayne's new uniform.

He had insisted on modifying it since the wedding, he still had the standard colonial marine armor but it was plated with silver and engraved with very small and very intricate patterns of the sun and the moon. Celestia also though she saw the mane six's cutie marks on there as well. Under the armor he wore the standard USCM combat fatigues he almost always wore and over the armor he wore the jacket Rarity made for him. All in all he looked like some kind of knight. All the ponies couldn't help but notice the distinctly royal look and how the white, silver and blue complemented the other.

"Well you look dashing." She complemented smiling at they ran to a carriage that was waiting for them.

"Yeah, yeah" Dwayne said "did the ponies deliver my weapons like I asked?"

"They are waiting for you when you get there." Celestia said as they entered the carriage drawn by two white Pegasus guards.

[One short carriage trip later.]

Dwayne and Celestia disembarked the carriage just outside the HOPE colony where Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack were waiting for them.

"Oh princess!" Twilight screamed running up to her mentor and hugging her tight. "It was horrible, there was so much blood but no bodies. They went in and didn't come out!"

"It's alright my student." Celestia said nuzzling Twilight in an effort to calm her down.

"Dwayne!" Apple jack called as she and rarity pulled a large bag into view "some guards came by n' dropped this off; they said it was for you."

"Thanks applejack!" Dwayne said running up to the bag and pulling it open. The ponies all watched as he pulled out a pulse rifle with lots of ammo and strapped it to his back next to his Ithaca Model 37 twelve gauge pump-action shotgun, he then brought out two M71 SMGs and strapped them onto his thighs before pulling out one No.6R pistol and one standard VP-70 pistol and putting them both in holsters he had around his midsection. Finally he brought out a motion tracker and some grenades which he pocketed and the hatchet princess Luna had given him.

"Alright, you guys can monitor us on the screens in the APC" he said gesturing to the grey behemoth parked outside the gate.

"Ready?" Celestia asked in a quavering voice and a forced smile.

"We'll be fine Tia." Dwayne said gently kissing her forehead as they both walked up to a locked door.

Celestia's horn began to glow as the door was forced open.

"Hurry!" she said in a strained voice as they both rushed through the door. When they were through Celestia's horn stopped glowing and the door slammed shut.

"a-are they all going to be that hard?" Celestia asked in an exhausted voice.

"Unfortunately… yes" Dwayne said "the base is in lockdown, nothing should be able to open these doors."

"Well then let's find them and get out as fast as we can." She said, nudging Dwayne to move forwards.

Dwayne brought up his motion tracker and one of the two SMGs he had and moved forward.

"Okay first section we have to clear is the kitchens" Dwayne said looking at an electronic blueprint that showed the rooms that hadn't been locked down. "Great, I'm actually kind of hungry…" Dwayne continued before being silenced by a glare from Celestia.

Dwayne walked up to the door and opened it. Inside was pretty much the same as before, the clean silver surfaces gleamed and the pots clinked as a breeze moved them slightly in their place hanging off of a shelf.

"Okay, clear." Dwayne said, never taking his eyes off of his motion tracker, he also spotted some roasted chicken on a plate. He couldn't resist taking a bite of it, it had been so long since he had eaten meat and this was exactly what he needed to calm his nerves.

"Must you do that in front of me?" Celestia asked rolling her eyes.

"Oh! Sorry about that." Dwayne said apologetically.

"Well there are none of those nightmares here" Celestia said pointedly "we should move"

"Agreed." Dwayne said as he brought up his motion tracker and an SMG while Celestia used her magic to wrench open yet another door.

"I got movement." Dwayne whispered as they made their way down the large corridor towards the motor pool. Celestia calmly drew her sword and they looked down the blackened hallway.

"They must be behind that corner." Dwayne said constantly keeping one eye on his motion tracker.

Celestia calmly forced the door to open but there was nothing there.

"Fucking tracker!" Dwayne grumbled, earning a glare from Celestia while slapping the device on the side "must be defective or something."

Suddenly a long thin black hand shot up from under the grates and grabbed his leg trying to pull him down.

"TIA! HELP!" he screamed as Celestia used her magic to pull him and a xenomorph lurker out. It let out a blood curdling screech and came at them.

"Eat led!" Dwayne yelled bringing both of his SMGs out and spraying the lurker with bullets. Celestia used her sword to slash at the xenomorph, it lasted about five slashes before the blade was completely eaten away by the acid.

The lurker screeched again and ran down the hall with Dwayne and Celestia in hot pursuit. Dwayne chucked Celestia his VP-70 and dropped his empty SMGs and pulled out his pulse rifle, firing a few well-placed bursts from it. Suddenly the lurker disappeared down a darkened corridor. Dwayne and Celestia stopped.

"What's wrong?" Dwayne asked in a hushed whisper, looking through his sights down the pitch black corridor.

"Don't you hear that." She replied, her ears twitching slightly. Dwayne tried to hear anything but failed.

"No I can't hear a thing…" he said looking down the corridor until he heard an almost silent hiss. They both looked up and saw dozens of xenomorphs crawling on the ceiling.

"HOLY CRAP!" Dwayne screamed as he started firing into the throng.

"Dwayne we have to run!" Celestia screamed as she ran back past the heavy blast doors "Hurry Dwayne!" she said trying to close the doors to no effect.

"Close the damn door!" Dwayne yelled shooting the wave of xenomorphs, hoping to slow them down.

"I can't its stuck!" Celestia replied, sweat dripping from her forehead a she strained to close the door.

The door creaked a few inches before it suddenly closed very quickly. Dwayne was firing his pulse rifle into the throng of xenomorphs when the door closed; one of his shots ricocheted off of the hardened titanium and hit him in the abdomen making him grunt in pain.

"Dwayne!" Celestia screamed running up to him.

"Come on!" Dwayne said pulling her along into a supply cupboard and sealing the door, welding it shut and using any heavy equipment to barricade it before he lent against the wall and collapsed, clutching his wound.

"How long will it hold them?" Celestia asked scared and tending to Dwayne's wound.

"N-Not long…" He said in a rough whisper as a cold sweat made itself present on his brow.

"Dwayne this wound… It's very deep; it will take up a lot of my magic to heal it."

"NO!" Dwayne grunted "Tia listen… forget about me and use the rest of your magic to teleport out of here…destroy this place."

Celestia smiled comfortingly as loud thuds could be heard through the closed door. "No Dwayne… I know that you will come for me." She said placing her horn against the wound in inserting the tip in for maximum healing effect. Suddenly she felt his hand cup the side of her face.

"I don't deserve this…" Dwayne grunted, his teeth gritted in pain. "Tia…I've done…b-bad things…"

"Dwayne you do deserve this, no matter what you may think. I know you." She said as Dwayne finally fell to the side, his ragged breathing finally stopping.

Celestia's horn shone a brilliant golden light as Dwayne's wound closed, he would be medically dead for a few more minutes but he would recover, she only hoped he could take the spell she had cast without any severe side effects. Suddenly the door gave and xenomorphs poured in and pounced on Celestia as she closed her eyes.

[One hour later]

Dwayne awoke with a loud gasp as he took in his surroundings. He was still in the same room he and Celestia had locked themselves in, the only difference was that the door had been torn open and a small amount of blood had been spilled across from Dwayne. Anger and energy grew in Dwayne when he realized that it wasn't his blood but Celestia's.

"Tia!" He called out getting no response as he stood. Almost as soon as he got up he nearly fell again. He felt extremely good… he didn't understand until he looked into a small mirror hanging on the wall opposite. Every single wound and scar on his body had been healed, and his skin glowed with a faint golden aura. Suddenly Dwayne's expression became determined as he spoke softly to himself.

"They don't kill you…" he kept repeating to himself as he grabbed his pulse rifle and slapped a fresh magazine in. Dwayne then stepped through the destroyed doorway and began his search.

"Tia!" he called out again as he began walking forward. As he walked he couldn't help but notice that his movements seemed enhanced. Just by walking he felt like he was moving faster than normal, as if he had just gotten off of a treadmill.

Suddenly he heard a noise to his left and spun around to face a Xenomorph flyer flying towards him. He fired a quick burst into its head and it fell to the ground twitching as it began to melt through the floor. Dwayne felt a pang of sorrow for the pony that died for the flier to be born.

Dwayne continued down the corridor that he was going through and came to a door labeled 'restricted zone'. Dwayne walked forward and the door opened to reveal a darkened room with only a few eerie blue lights to illuminate the room. He panned his pulse rifle left and right scanning the room for hostiles and heard a noise, he looked up and saw two lurkers and one xenomorph griffin crawling on the ceiling. They screeched loudly when they realized that they had been discovered and tried to rush Dwayne.

Dwayne quickly drew his rifle in a wide arc firing bullets into the horrors as they fell from the ceiling with dull thuds. Suddenly a loud, shrill screech filled the room as Dwayne spun around to see a blast door get torn off its hinges by a praetorian. It hissed as it spotted Dwayne, who in turn growled quietly as he reloaded his rifle. Quickly he fired half of the magazine into the monster but its armor was too thick. Dwayne knew that he didn't have enough firepower or ammunition to take this thing head on. That was when he noticed the large red pipes that ran up the wall and on the ceiling behind the praetorian. So he pumped a grenade into the under slung grenade launcher and fired at the praetorian. As he expected it didn't kill it but it did move it back… under the pipes.

Dwayne smiled as he pointed his pulse rifle at the pipes and fired one round. Immediately the pipes exploded and spewed fire and metal fragments into the praetorian which screamed and fell to its knees before finally collapsing.

Dwayne turned and recoiled as he saw another Xenomorph flyer hanging off of the ceiling, about to smash Dwayne's skull in. but just before its second set of teeth could hit him he fell purposefully onto the floor and out of harm's way. He then shoved the barrel of his pulse rifle into its mouth and fired. He cringed when he saw its acid land on his hand; he gritted his teeth in preparation for the pain. But it never came. Dwayne opened one eye to look and was amazed to see that the acid had melted he combat glove but not his skin. He reminded himself that he should thank Celestia for whatever spell she had cast. Immediately Dwayne felt a burst of determination as he went through the door the praetorian had smashed. It led into the maintenance room which was basically a jungle of pipes and wires. Dwayne stood on a raised walkway that overlooked the lower levels of the complex.

"TIA!" He yelled again, desperately trying to find the princess he loved.

Dwayne moved forward but stopped when he heard scraping metal. He turned to see a xenomorph griffin running towards him scraping its claws on the walls making deep groves in them. Dwayne did something most people and ponies would deem as stupid. He began running at the charging xenomorph, as it came to swipe at him he ducked and slid between its legs, firing up into it as he skidded out from beneath it.

Before he could fire again it spun around and brought its clawed hand down on him. Dwayne didn't have time to fire so he brought his rifle up to act as a shield. The xenomorph's claw sliced through the metal of his rifle and pushed Dwayne off of the walkway and onto the floor below.

Dwayne grunted in pain as he hit the ground, looking up he saw the xenomorph screeching down at him. Thinking fast he reached down to his belt and pulled out a sonic electronic ball breaker, he activated it and placed it on the ground next to him. He waited until the xenomorph jumped down at him and rolled out of the way. When he finally stopped rolling he covered his eyes as he heard the comical ***DING*** and the loud, high pitched explosion. He brought his hand away from his face and looked at the carnage before him.

There were xenomorph bits everywhere and the acidic blood was melting everything it touched. He looked down and saw a large gash where a piece of flying shrapnel had hit him, he was about to get a med-kit when he suddenly felt a tingling sensation on the wound. Looking down again he saw the large gash suddenly disappear with a golden aura washing over it, erasing the scar. Once again Dwayne silently thanked Celestia for casting the spell that gave him immunity to their deadly blood and seemed to give him accelerated healing. He looked around for his rifle and saw it destroyed in a corner of the room.

"Shit." He mumbled to himself as he pulled out his shotgun and walked through the door he had landed next to.

[Perspective change: Princess Celestia and other survivors, unknown location]

Princess Celestia awoke with a grunt of pain as she took in her bearings. She was stuck to a wall in a darkened room; the only sources of light were a few blue neon strips and a bright red LED sign that said 'exit'.

"Princess!" someone suddenly said through the dark.

"Who's there?" She asked into the darkness.

"Ma'am it's me John, Jenna and Emily are here too but they're knocked out." John said as he turned on his shoulder lamp. Celestia gasped when she saw the room in a brighter light. There were dozens of dead facehuggers on the floor and John had a pistol in his hand as he hung from the opposite wall in between Emily and Jenna.

"Did you kill all of them?" Celestia asked, shocked and scared.

"Yes, but I'm on my last mag… we're done for." John said hanging his head.

"Dwayne will come." Celestia said confidently.

"Yeah right." John said.

"I gave him a spell that Starswirl the bearded created, I only hope it works." Celestia said.

"What does it do?" John asked, brightening a little.

"Well it didn't work on ponies but it's supposed to make the pony its cast on heal incredibly quickly, so quickly that if the wound or weapon takes time to inflict damage then it wouldn't do any damage at all, it's also supposed to perfect reflexes and muscle function. Unfortunately it was only designed to last for one day but like I said it didn't work on ponies so I can only hope it works on humans." Celestia explained.

"Well it had better work, or we're worse than dead." John said as he looked around the room.

[Perspective change: Back to Pvt. Dwayne Ripley]

"Shit." He mumbled to himself as he pulled out his shotgun and walked through the door he had landed next to.

When it opened he found himself in the motor pool. Looking around Dwayne noticed blood pooled on the ground as well as some bloody hand prints.

"What the hell went down here?" Dwayne wondered aloud as he heard a quiet clatter. He looked down and saw a wrench slide past his feet. He spun around raising his shotgun only to see a wall of black rushing towards him.

"OH SHI-!" Dwayne started before he was smashed into a steel support beam and his mind went dark.

"Dwayne!" Celestia's voice echoed in Dwayne's mind as his eyes fluttered open.

"Tia?" He asked as his vision focused. He was quickly roused from his daze when he heard a loud roar.

"AAHHHHH!" Dwayne screamed as a crusher bit into his shin guard. Dwayne could feel the immense pressure even through the armor as the crusher moved its head from side to side, mauling Dwayne and flinging him around like a rag doll. It finally released Dwayne and he fell to the ground. Just as it was about to bite him again Dwayne grabbed the closest weapon he could find… the wrench that slid past his feet.

Just as the crusher was biting down Dwayne shoved the wrench into the crusher's mouth. When it realized that t couldn't close its mouth it began to swing its gargantuan head from side to side, trying to dislodge the wrench.

"OH GODDAMN!" Dwayne yelled as he kicked himself away from the xenomorph. He looked around his shotgun but he couldn't find it. He looked back at the crusher and saw the wrench beginning to bend and break.

"Ah shit." He said to himself, looking around for another weapon. Dwayne finally grabbed the first thing that came to hand… a diamond tipped, hardened tritanium power chainsaw that john had used to cut sheet metal. The chainsaw was designed to cut through anything, including metal, rock and highly reactive chemicals. Dwayne hoped it would be able to take the xenomorphs molecular acid for a while.

The wrench finally broke and the crusher looked at Dwayne who raised the chainsaw and revved it up. The crusher tilted its head, following the chainsaw as Dwayne moved it from side to side.

Suddenly it roared and rushed Dwayne. It tried to head-butt him but he sidestepped, it missed and he brought the saw down on its head. At first the only thing it did was create a lot of sparks as it sawed through the crusher's heavy armor then it began to splatter blood everywhere as it finally made it through. The crusher, enraged that something had actually pierced its armor reared and knocked the chainsaw out of Dwayne's hands. Dwayne didn't have time to scream before the crusher had his foot in its mouth and began to bite down. Dwayne used his free foot to kick the crusher in the head to no effect.

Finally Dwayne grabbed the hatchet that Luna had made for him and brought it down slap bang in the center of the xenomorphs face. Dwayne didn't have time to be shocked that the blade had done so much damage before he crawled away and reached the chainsaw that had come to rest about five meters away from him. As he revved it up again the xenomorph finally stopped trying to dislodge the hatchet and once again roared at him.

"COME ON MOTHERFUCKER, YEAH!" Dwayne screamed as it charged him again.

The Crusher tried to use its claws to swipe at Dwayne but each time he parried with the chainsaw. Finally he beat its claw out of the way and swiped its face with the saw, cutting its lower jaw clean off.

Finally immense blood loss began to catch up to the xenomorph as it stumbled and fell. Dwayne took a moment to catch his breath as the xenomorph struggled to get up only to fall again.

"Son of a bitch!" Dwayne yelled as he ran up to the crusher and began cutting at its midsection until it was finally cut in half. Dwayne backed off and began to sway as his adrenaline began to wear off; the chainsaw was blunted and damaged beyond repair by the xenomorphs acidic blood so Dwayne finally let it fall.

The crusher let out one final roar before Dwayne drew his No.6R and fired an entire magazine into the xenomorph's exposed mouth and it finally died. Dwayne was exhausted as he found his shotgun, holstered his pistol, pumped a new shell into the shotguns chamber and finally yanked the hatchet from the xenomorphs head.

"T-TIA!" he screamed again as he walked up to a door with a red exit sign above it. It opened and he saw the one thing that could pull him out of the darkness.

"TIA!" Dwayne screamed as he ran up to the wall and hugged her.

"D-Dwayne?" she muttered as her eyes slowly opened.

"Yeah it's me." He said as he cut her down before moving to the other humans in the room.

"By the way thank you for the spell you gave me." Dwayne said as he cut a very relieved John from the wall.

Suddenly they all covered their ears as a loud screech shook the whole area.

"What the hell was that?" John yelled, carrying Jenna.

"No idea" Dwayne replied, picking up Emily "but it can't be good."

As the group made their way out of the colony they couldn't help but notice that there were no xenomorphs. When they finally made it outside they were greeted by Princess Luna and the mane 6. Luna quickly explained that Rainbow Dash had awoken a few hours after they left and that they had gotten there a few moments ago. However the most devastating news was that canterlot was being attacked by xenomorphs.

At this Celestia began to cry, a sight almost never seen by her subjects.

"Tia wait" Luna said raising a hoof "we saw them coming, all the ponies were evacuated."

Celestia immediately brightened slightly when she heard the news, but it didn't cancel the fact that her home was now under xenomorph control.

"Are they contained?" Dwayne asked stoically.

Everypony looked at him silently for a moment. His cloths were covered in his blood, dirt and grime. His armor that sparkled when he went into the colony was now scratched and marred.

"Umm…yes." Twilight finally said "Shining Armor is using an inside-out shielding spell to keep them in; we just saw a bunch of them leave here and run off towards the city."

"Good." Dwayne said before he collapsed into the dirt.


	19. Arbitrarily Exterminated

Chapter 19 "Arbitrarily Exterminated"

All the ponies crowded around Dwayne; to everyponys surprise Celestia didn't seem very worried. When they asked what was wrong with his she explained that the spell she had used to boost his abilities was temporary, similar to an adrenaline rush, when it faded he would have burned through so much energy that his body would have shut down to prevent any permanent damage. Content with this explanation the ponies helped move Dwayne into the APC and they set about gathering equipment to reinforce the royal guards that were containing the xenomorphs inside the city. As they went about their business the three humans dropped into a secluded area in the base.

"John we can't let this keep happening, we need to end this once and for all. We aren't made of ammo." Emily said in a hushed voice.

"I know." John said

"Look man, we have to be ready to use this and the black box can solve all of our problems in literally one second." Jenna said again, hoping to convince John.

"Right prep the weapon system, but don't tell Dwayne. I have a feeling that he wouldn't be too keen on the idea. He's gotten too close to the ponies." John said as Jenna walked off in the direction on the drop ship so that they could get to Canterlot quickly while Emily went to the weapons cache that they had discovered back during the battle with the griffins.

[Seven hours later.]

Numbness enveloped Dwayne as he finally woke up. Every muscle in his body ached and he was dehydrated. Soon his eyes began to focus on his surroundings and the dull, blocky, metal interior of the APC became recognizable.

"H-hello." He croaked, pushing the harness that held him in place off as he shakily stood. It was only then that he realized just how thirsty he was. His thoughts were immediately cut out by the sound of gunfire. He immediately moved to the APC's door and slid it open almost violently.

Outside the ponies were crowded around a table which had a large map of Canterlot on it. The humans were using a power loader to move equipment that they needed to fortify the areas where the xenomorphs could possibly penetrate the large shield dome that Shining had put up. It was a stroke of genius really. Use the same shielding spell he had used against the changelings on the city and simply turn it inside out, sealing them all in. any stragglers were quickly pegged by Jenna who had spent the past three hours making sure none of the xenomorphs were left outside of the dome.

All the ponies jumped when Dwayne suddenly burst from the APC and Jenna had her pistol pointed at him until they realized who it was.

"Dwayne!" Celestia said happily running forward and hugging him.

"So I take it you missed me." Dwayne said a smug grin on his face. That is until he heard a huge explosion and a deafening screech come from inside the dome.

"There goes that big motherfucker again." Jenna sighed "I've been tickling him with my ground thumpers for the past half an hour… all it did was piss it off and now it has a bunch of flying Xenos' protecting it."

"Are you heading out again?" Dwayne asked.

"Yeah right now actually, you game." She said with a hint of a smile on her face.

"Sure, where are the others?" Dwayne asked looking around for John and Emily.

"Emily is in the drop ship prepping the mini-gun and John is over there with the power loader." Twilight said.

"Dwayne!" John called happily, disembarking from the power loader "you ready to rock!"

"Right lets go." Dwayne said walking to the drop ship with John and Jenna in tow. Just then Emily disembarked from the drop ship and walked up to them.

"I got the mini gun set up on the side door and I'm just about to back the APC in there in case things get too choppy for you two." She said gesturing to Dwayne and John.

"Right then let's go, Emily you stay here and watch the girls. If anything gets through I want you to get them out of here got it." Dwayne said.

"You got it." Emily said, throwing up a salute.

"Just get back in one piece!" Rarity called after them as they began to lift off.

Celestia looked at the drop ship sadly as it finally flew through the shield. Noticing her stare Luna embraced her.

"He will return sister." She said in a comforting tone.

"He always says that." She replied, still looking at the spot where the drop ship had disappeared.

"It's been true so far right?" Pinkie said

"Yes." Celestia said in a dry tone

"Well he has to come back. He Pinkie promised" Pinkie said glaring at the spot where the drop ship disappeared through the dome.

"And we can watch them through those." Twilight said, pointing to some screens that the marines had set up, hoping to cheer up the princess.

[Perspective change: Drop ship]

Dwayne walked through the interior of the drop ship, covering his ears at the deafening noise that came from the ships twin engines. John noticed this and handed him a large, bulky pair of headphones. Dwayne had never seen any headphones that looked like this before; they were jet black with a glowing green USCM logo on each of the two oversized headsets and a small mike that protruded from the left side. When he put them on he was surprised at how the sound of the drop ship was partially muted out. Dwayne stared incredulously at John who grinned back.

"Good huh" He said smiling "the latest line of audio enhancement, these should help us if we go into combat with an almost silent enemy. They drown out and capture noises that you prioritize."

"**Dwayne! Six o'clock!"** Jenna said over the radio as she dropped her altitude and slowed giving Dwayne a perfect line of sight against the xenomorphs fleeing the ship on the ground below.

He began to fire at them as they scurried into various hiding holes and other hidden places. Some tried to escape the lead rain by rushing into a house. Dwayne turned the gun on it and spun up the barrels. The thatched roof and stone was no match for the mini-gun as it wore it down to dust and gore.

Finally Jenna pulled up and began to head further into Canterlot. When she did this both Dwayne and john fell to the other side of the drop ship's hold as she accelerated.

"**Guys we're coming up on the thing now."** Jenna said over the radio "**HOLY SHIT! Contacts lots of contacts! Get on the fucking gun!" **

Dwayne rushed over to the mini-gun john had set up in the starboard door. Dwayne laid a hand on the massive firearm and looked ahead where a mass of black flew towards them.

Jenna swore loudly, declaring that they would have to turn back as she turned the drop ship in a tight right bank that caused Dwayne and John to clutch onto something lest they be thrown about the cabin again. When they recovered Dwayne noticed that the Xenomorphs were gaining on them and a grin spread across his face with the knowledge that they would come in range of the weapons system if they came any closer.

"Feel the sweet embrace of Satan's hoof against your face!" he said as the barrels began to spin, gaining speed with each passing second until finally the immensely satisfying sound of exploding xenomorph carapaces filled Dwayne's ears only to be immediately drowned out by the constant *BUZZ* of the weapon.

Dwayne, long past caring about accuracy threw his head back and laughed maniacally at the Xenomorphs expense. Suddenly a tap on the shoulder brought him out of his trance and he turned to look at john who was holding a pair of binoculars to his face while pointing at something Dwayne couldn't see.

"There is a swarm of little things headed for the ship!" John yelled in panic "they're going for the air intakes!"

Just then Dwayne noticed the cloud of Swarmers that were throwing themselves into the air intakes at the front of the ship, causing a series of alarmingly loud explosions to rock the craft. Then it began to swerve in an uncontrolled fashion as Jenna fought for control over the drop ship.

Suddenly Dwayne noticed something spark at the far end of the cargo hold. Turing he saw a single swarmer spit a globule of acid into the ramp controls, causing them to short out as the ramp began to open.

"Get into the APC!" Dwayne screamed as both he and John ran into the vehicle and locked themselves into the harnesses, closing their eyes as a feeling of weightlessness enveloped them before everything went black.

[Perspective change: Princess Celestia]

All of the ponies looked at what had just transpired with their mouths agape.

"Did any of that really just happen…?" Twilight asked, her voice cracking.

They all turned to Celestia who watched with watery eyes as the drop ship made it back out of the bubble before, very roughly, landing near the girls.

Jenna exited the ship and quickly walked over to Celestia and hugged her crying into her shoulder.

"I'm sorry!" She cried "the ships was too damaged to go back, I barely made it out in one piece."

"I don't blame you." Celestia said, hugging her back "I blame those monsters. And I have a duty to my ponies… and I can't let personal grief get in the way."

[Half an hour later]

Dwayne awoke with ringing in his ears and a familiar headache that he had almost grown used to, almost. He groaned as he looked around the interior of the APC.

"Dwayne! Oh man, I thought I was gonna be stuck here alone for a second!" John said moving towards Dwayne and checking him for any damage.

"H-how are we alive?" Dwayne asked, gingerly standing and looking through the drivers port which revealed nothing but black.

"As far as I can make out we must have hit some kind of building. Lucky too, it slowed us down and we landed right side up, the only problem is that we can't get out." John said, sitting in the driver's seat.

Suddenly Dwayne realized that his radio was buzzing, meaning that he still had a connection.

"Jenna come in. over." He said, listening to the static that followed before Jenna's voice rang out in his headset.

"You must have a fucking angel watching over you or something" She said, amazed before laughing quietly "listen Dwayne I got a damsel in distress here that just saw her prince fall through the air and smash into a building. You want to say hi?"

Dwayne eyes widened when he heard a scrambling for the headset followed by a loud

"Dwayne!" Celestia screamed, making Dwayne remove the headset until her excitement had died down a little.

However when he heard her release a choked sob Dwayne realized just how much pressure she was under.

"Dwayne please…" She cried "just come home…"

Dwayne's eyes filled once again with the telltale determination as he spoke three words into the head set.

"On my way." He then turned to john "We gotta move."

"Well Sherlock there's just one problem with that." John said "We're stuck in a building with no way out!"

"I got an idea!" Dwayne said moving to the front of the APC and accessing a control panel to the right of the driver's compartment. He then commanded the twin Gatling guns to fire forwards, causing the wall to slowly disintegrate until it was damaged enough that the APC could just bulldoze through it.

When they were through Dwayne moved to stand behind John and look through the view port where he could see the empty streets and abandoned shops. Dwayne's attention was drawn away from the window by a shrill bleeping from behind him. Turning he found the source of the bleeping. A motion tracker had been dislodged in the fall and now rested under a chair. Dwayne picked it up and looked at the screen.

"John…" He said

"What?" He asked, swiveling in his chair to look at Dwayne.

Dwayne suddenly rushed to the front, forcing John to turn back to the controls.

"GO! GO! GO!" Dwayne screamed as john, without hesitation, put his foot down on the pedal, causing the APC to lurch forwards.

"Multiple contacts… they're closing in on our position, Sixty meters." Dwayne said, looking at the motion tracker while frantically tapping john on the shoulder as the blips on the tracker closed in on them even though they were going at full speed down a street.

Just as the APC was going around a corner a loud crash rocked the APC, forcing it to collide with the shop fronts, smashing the walls and the different shops interiors before John finally swerved back onto the road.

"What was that?!" Dwayne yelled in a panic.

John looked out of the small slit in the side of the driver's door. "Oh shit! Crusher, the weapons controls are damaged. You have to do it manually."

Dwayne moved to the rear of the APC and accessed a console to the APC's main cannons. As he swiveled around he caught sight of two crushers that were pursuing them. Quickly he took aim and fired at the lead crusher, hitting it in the head and causing it to explode in a shower of green gore that melted the street cobbles.

"One down!" Dwayne yelled in triumph.

"Nice shot, but don't get cocky!" John yelled trying to maneuver the metal behemoth through the confining streets.

Dwayne began to take aim at the second just when it put on a burst of speed, ramming the APC, causing Dwayne to fall and various bits of equipment to fall from the rack that lined the roof of the APC.

"Fuck!" Dwayne said in anger as he bumped his head.

"Really poetic" John laughed at Dwayne's expense. However his humorous demeanor died when he noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. "Dwayne they're on the roofs!" He screamed as a xenomorph jumped down onto the APCs roof. Dwayne's targeting panel suddenly went dark.

"They took out the turret!" he yelled.

"No shit!" John yelled back. However when he turned the Xenomorph put its arm through the window and tried to slit John's throat.

"Motherfucker!" John yelled, bringing his foot up and pinning the Xeno's arm against the window rim and firing his entire pistol magazine into the aliens head. Finally it collapsed and the two marines noticed that the second crusher had run in front of the APC. However what they also noticed was that all of the Xenomorphs seemed to have disappeared and the Crusher looked like it was running away.

"What spooked them?" Dwayne asked.

Suddenly a huge, clawed black hand came from apparently nowhere and landed in the street in front of them, destroying part of a building and crushing the crusher (no pun intended… no really nothing intended).

"Aww, shit!" John said trying to veer off to the right. Of course this was useless. The seventy seven ton APC collided with the hand and flipped, end over tip. Dwayne wasn't strapped in when this happened and he found himself floating, a sense of weightlessness filling him before he was violently slammed into the roof of the APC as its nose dug itself into the ground before being pulled out again and continuing its 360 spins through a brick wall before finally coming to a bone shattering halt in the palace gardens.

[Five hours later]

Dwayne awoke with a ringing in his ears as his eyes focused on a series of small fires that had started inside the APC. When he turned his head he saw John using a fire extinguisher to douse the flames.

"JOHN!" Dwayne coughed loudly at the fires were finally doused.

"Dwayne you're alive!" John said running forward and removed some debris that had landed on Dwayne. "And I thought I was going to have to get out of this city on my own!" He continued happily, helping Dwayne stand.

"Okay my vote, hold up and wait for backup." Dwayne said, wrapping a bandage around his arm.

"NO!" John replied a little too quickly, eliciting Dwayne's suspicions. "I mean if we stay here we'll be overrun…" He mumbled, clearly trying to drop the subject.

"John what aren't you telling me." Dwayne asked.

"Nothing!" John said, raising his hands in the air.

"Don't lie to me John…" Dwayne said getting annoyed that one of his best friends was keeping secrets.

"I was telling the tru…" He started before Dwayne cut him off with a shout.

"Don't you lie to me, don't you dare lie to me!" He yelled pointing an accusing finger at John.

John sighed in defeat as he looked to the ground.

"We agreed that if we couldn't handle the situation then we would nuke the city while all these things are contained." He said

"A n-nuke? We don't even have a nuke anymore!" Dwayne yelled.

"That's not exactly true…" John replied "the black box you found has a self-destruct system built into it, it can fry this whole city."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Dwayne said loudly, shocked and partially hurt.

"Because we knew that if we did you would do something like disable it or forbid us to use it, you would have had the princess on your side too… we had no choice but not to tell you." John replied as Dwayne huffed angrily and moved to a pile of fallen boxes.

"Well come on then lets salvage whatever we can and get the hell out of here." Dwayne said yanking on a crate containing a pulse rifle and some ammo.

After an hour of rummaging they had finally come up with a small selection of weapons. John had opted for a motion tracker and the pulse rifle and Dwayne had gotten a M56A2 smart-gun with a few extra ammunition belts as well as some standard marine armor, he had discarded his tattered jacket and overt silver armor in hopes that he would be less noticeable. John had also chosen to heft a case containing a robot sentry on his back as they got ready to depart.

"Ready?" John asked, placing his back against a wall and his boot on the damaged APC door.

Dwayne nodded, standing in front of the doorway. As John slid the door open. They were greeted by a night sky filled with twinkling stars.

"Shit! It's going to be harder to spot those things now!" Dwayne said.

"Well at least they can't see us either right?" John asked looking at Dwayne who raised an eyebrow at him "well fuck. Right connect your eyepiece and put on your headphones, they will help you if we're pinned."

Dwayne moved the eyepiece over his right eye and his field of vision was bathed in a light bluish HUD that activated the auto lock-on. The targeting reticule in the center of the HUD flashed to life and a small USCM logo hovered right on the top. In the bottom right hand corner a small blinking screen read 600.

"Field Modified, Kill Certified…" Dwayne said, a devilish smile playing in his lips as they both stepped out into the night.

"Right clear!" John whispered and they both silently sprinted to the relative cover of the city.

"Right if we keep going in this direction we should make it out of here within two days." John said holding up a motion tracker as he panned the area. "Dwayne eyes up!" He said as Dwayne looked to see dozens of xeno fliers and xeno griffins.

Dwayne quickly ran into the middle of the street and began trying to lift a manhole cover. John noticing this ran over to help and they soon managed to yank the metal plate out of the ground.

"In quickly before they spot us!" Dwayne yelled as John dropped into the hole. Dwayne quickly followed and laded ankle deep in water.

"Smells like shit down here…" Dwayne said taking point with his M56A2 smart-gun

"Nah, that's just you!" John said chuckling as Dwayne stopped to give him a hard elbow in the gut.

Their walk through the sewers had taken them on an extended trip and they soon found themselves tired and in need of rest. They stopped at a store room they found that contained mops and buckets, but more importantly it contained candles which they quickly lit.

They put down their equipment and settled in for a good night's rest. However they had set up the robot sentry just outside in the tunnel so that they could sleep in relative safety. However Dwayne didn't sleep. When he saw setting up the sentry he thought he saw a hazy shimmer in the air in front of him. He shook his head and ignored it… but that didn't mean that he could get over what he saw. And when he finally did fall asleep he was plagued by dreams where spirits seemed to have appeared from the shimmering air and killed him. He awoke with a start when he felt something wet drip onto his face. He opened his eyes just in time to see a transparent xenomorph; its fangs bared, hovering above him. He rolled and its inner mouth bore into his shoulder instead. He screamed loudly as it tore out a sizeable chunk of flesh.

"Dwayne what the fuck!" john yelled, kicking the xenomorph off of Dwayne which sent it careering into the far wall. It got up and swiped John with its tail, making him fall.

Dwayne rolled onto his side and grabbed his shotgun and rolled back just in time as the xenomorph leapt at him. However its open mouth ended up landing on the barrel of the gun and it virtually impaled itself on the shotgun. Its mouth stopped just short if the trigger.

"No Offense!" Dwayne yelled as he pulled the trigger and blew the back of the xenomorphs head onto the far wall. Panting heavily he let go of the grip and the xenomorph teetered for a moment before it fell heavily onto the floor.

"What the fuck was THAT!" John yelled walking towards the xenomorph which slowly went from being transparent to opaque.

"Aww hell it looks like a changeling!" Dwayne moaned, noticing the fangs and multiple holes on its forearms and shins.

"Looks like they took the changelings form of camouflage to a whole new level." John said as they both watched its dead form turn fully opaque.

Dwayne knelt down and yanked his shotgun out of its mouth with a sickening tear, leaving bits of torn flesh on the gun. Thankfully none of the weapon had melted.

"John, get the sentry" Dwayne said seriously, bandaging the wound in his shoulder which was bleeding profusely.

"Right" John said, shaking off any fear "I'm on it!"

A few minutes later john had packed up the robot sentry and strapped it to his back and they had both readied their weapons.

"What if we find another one of those… invisible things?" John asked quietly.

"I adjusted the eyepiece to also pick up micro changes in air density." Dwayne replied as the stepped out into the tunnel again.

Dwayne took point while john brought up the rear. The only sound they could hear, even with their incredible headsets, was the trickling of water down the walls. After another hundred yards the two soldiers reached a turn in the tunnel. They followed it around, failing to notice as a slimy substance dribbled from the ceiling.

"It's getting really hot in here." Dwayne said as they kept walking.

"Just point that thing forwards." John said "We're nearly out, then it's a hundred yards to the outside world."

The two men rounded a corner and Dwayne bumped into John who was standing stock still.

"Hey man quit messing around, we gotta move." Dwayne said until his auto lock-on system identified over thirty targets in the tunnel ahead of him.

"Aww, SHIT!" Dwayne yelled as he began firing.


	20. Another Day in the Corps!

Chapter 20 "Another Day in the Corps!"

The tunnel was lit with the muzzle flash of the smart-gun as it deposited its payload into a massing throng of black, sleek xenomorphs that crowded the entire radius of the tunnel. The targeting reticule was set to lock onto the closest living creature without an IFF. It was flicking over Dwayne's HUD so quickly that he could barely tell what he was firing at. All he knew is that the numbers in the bottom corner of the HUD were getting lower and that the Xenomorphs were getting closer.

"Dwayne!" John suddenly called "I found a ladder!"

"Get us out of here!" Dwayne screamed back, never once taking his eyes off of the wall of black in front of him.

"Go, Go, Go! I'll cover you." John yelled as Dwayne let go of his smart-gun, letting it fall to the floor as he scrambled up the ladder while John fired multiple grenades from his under slung grenade launcher and emptied his entire magazine into the throng before climbing up the ladder, kicking any xenomorph that tried to follow him back down. As soon as he reached the surface John flipped himself out of the way as Dwayne dropped a cluster of M40 grenades down the hole and used his foot to push the manhole cover back into place as the grenades detonated, resulting in a dull *THUD* from below.

"Well…" Dwayne said panting "I'm never doing that again."

[Perspective change: Princess Celestia]

Princess Luna looked at her sister. She had not moved from her place in front of the screens that monitored Dwayne and John's progress. She hadn't slept. In Luna's experience when Celestia didn't get enough sleep she made bad decisions, and her sister's bloodshot eyes weren't very reassuring.

"Tia…" Luna said almost hesitantly, flinching as her sister turned her head slightly to look at her with an expression that everypony hated. Celestia was rarely cross but she made up for that by giving off an air of severe disappointment.

"Yes." She said stiffly.

"You need sleep, or else how will you raise the sun in the morning?" Luna said, trying to reason her sister into bed.

"Luna for the last time I am not tired." Celestia said, now turning her full attention to her sister.

"Yes you are!" Luna retorted "Do you really think that Dwayne would want you to be sleep deprived? You know you make bad decisions when you don't get any sleep and we need to be at our best."

"But…" Celestia began.

"NO Tia!" Luna said, stomping a hoof to emphasize her point. "You will march into that tent and go to sleep like all the other girls.

Celestia sighed before she hung her head and began walking to the tent the royal guards had constructed for the regal sisters and the girls. She walked a few paces before she grimaced and moved a hoof to her stomach. Luna's first reaction was to reveal the unbelievably rare doting side of her personality as she ran to her sister's side.

"Tia what's wrong?" She asked worriedly

"Oh it's nothing" Celestia said dismissively, waving a hoof and rising to her full height. "Just a stomach cramp"

Luna helped her sister back into their tent and they settled in for a good night's sleep.

[Perspective change: Pvt. Dwayne Ripley]

Dwayne and John burst into an abandoned home as they escaped yet another conflict that had just occurred. They were both panting and running low on ammo. Dwayne still had a dozen shells for his shotgun and John had about three grenades and fifty rounds for his pulse rifle.

"We won't be getting out of the city tonight." John said his expression one of mixed fear and exhaustion.

"Right, we can find some room to hole up in with the robot sentry. And this time we will take turns going on lookout duty." Dwayne replied, walking into the interior of the large mansion. About a hundred feet in he found a perfect place. A room with a heavy oak door located at the end of a corridor.

John began unpacking the Robot sentry while Dwayne decided to walk around and make sure that there were no little holes the Xenos could use to creep up on them while they were at their weakest.

"Right sentry in place and keyed." John said moving into the room.

"Alright that's all we can do. You get some sleep; I'll take the first watch." Dwayne said.

A few hours later Dwayne stood looking out of the window in the direction that he knew Celestia was in. he didn't know how he knew exactly, he just did. That was when the first rays of sun rose above the horizon exactly where he was looking. He half smiled to himself looking at the sun until it became too bright and he turned to John who was still sleeping.

"Hey get up." He said kicking John who grumbled in response. "What are you waiting for breakfast in bed? It's another glorious day in the corps."

"I hate the corps" John said tiredly.

"Oh come on! Every meal is a banquet, every paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade. God I LOVE the corps!" Dwayne said as John rolled lazily out of the cluster of pillows he was sleeping in before finally getting up and throwing a mocking salute at Dwayne.

"Right so we have a ways to go." John said gathering up his weapons. "We still have to get through the market according to this map." John said, hefting a map of canterlot that Celestia had given them before they had gone through the dome. When they had packed all of their meager ammunition and weapon stores they moved to the entrance of the large house.

Dwayne peeked through the door and saw that the coast was clear.

"Right Go!" Dwayne said as they ran out into the open.

[Perspective change: Princess Celestia]

The princess had awoken later than usual. Even though she knew that she had a duty to preform to all equestria that didn't stop her feeling grumpy when she woke up. She raised the sun as usual and moved to find her sister so that they could talk before the girls awoke. However before she could find Luna she found herself going to the pantry the guards had set up for their morning meal. Celestia soon found herself sitting at a table subconsciously munching at a bowl of salad.

"Sister I was looking for you!" Luna said as she entered the tent to find Celestia eating. "Couldn't you have waited for us to eat too?"

"Too hungry" Celestia replied through mouthfuls of salad.

"Sister at least try to have some grace when you eat." Luna said, rolling her eyes as she sat down facing her sister with a glass of milk levitating to her mouth.

"Morning everypony" Twilight said through a giant yawn as all six girls entered the breakfast tent.

They all looked tired, with the exception of Pinkie Pie who was bouncing as usual and having raw sugar for breakfast. Rainbow Dash looked the most tired, her eyelids were drooping all the time and there were black lines under them. The severe lack in naps was taking their toll on the poor girl and eventually she ended up falling asleep at the table.

"Morning everypony" Jenna said getting herself a cup of coffee and a protein bar. Little did the ponies know that today was the day that Jenna and John had agreed on nuking Canterlot. And with the drop ship in relative repair it would be the end if Dwayne and John didn't get out. However Jenna knew that she had to do this. Shining Armor was getting extremely tired; the strain of putting up the shield was starting to take a toll on him. And he wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer. Jenna knew that if they didn't stop the Xenomorphs then the ponies would all die. That was something that they had agreed couldn't be allowed to happen. Victory requires sacrifice; humans know this better than anyone.

She left the tent that contained the laughing girls and moved to the drop ship where Emily had moved a large amount of munitions to make the subsequent explosion bigger.

"Is it ready?" Jenna asked, in reply Emily nodded. They both silently hoped that the two marines were out of the blast range of the small tactical nuke. The target of Jenna's flight was going to be the massive leviathan that prowled the city, destroying entire neighborhoods just by moving. As far as they could make out it was basically a mobile hive. With many holes in its exoskeleton that led deeper into its body.

"Right… let's do it." Jenna said moving to the cockpit as Emily left to distract the princesses. Jenna cringed as she heard her damaged ship shudder at it rose; smoke billowing out of one engine as she flew towards the city and the leviathan which, as far as they could tell from reports, was resting in some kind of market.

[Perspective change: Pvt. Dwayne Ripley]

"Looks like they're trying to start a hive here" John commented as he and Dwayne moved towards what looked like a building completely covered in black resin. At least they thought it was that until they heard the drop ship coming towards them.

"Oh man, evac is a little late…" Dwayne said, resting his shotgun on his shoulder and using a hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

"That's not evac…." John said "It's the payload drop."

"WHAT!" Dwayne yelled in exasperation, the only thought that went through his head was 'there is no fucking way I did all I did to be killed by the good guys.'

Suddenly the supposed building rose onto four massive feet, pulling behind them a body that until now had rested in a crater, hiding its owner's full size. It looked at the approaching drop ship and roared, shattering the windows of a few houses that lay too close to its massive frame.

"Jenna! Call off the attack!" Dwayne yelled into the radio.

"I'm sorry Dwayne, but shining can't hold the shield up for much longer and we can't get close enough to pick you up. Unicorns can't lock onto you either; it seems that humans are, in a way, immune to magic. This has to happen." She replied over the radio.

"Please listen! Drop the nuke and we'll rig it to blow on a timer. All we have to do is plant the bomb on the leviathan and it's done."

"And what if you die, then we'll have lost our only ace and all of your precious ponies will die." She said harshly "Thought about that?"

"Okay so think about it this way, it you set off a firecracker in your open palm then what happens?"

"You get burnt." Jenna replied, sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"Right! But if you close your hands around it…"

Jenna, beginning to pick up on Dwayne's idea remained silent in realization.

"Your wife will be feeding you chips for the rest of your life…" Dwayne continued.

"Damn you have a point." John said "and even though hitting this thing with a nuke was my idea I would prefer to live."

"I don't know…" Jenna said unsure "you guys know that if can't do it then this world is fucked right?"

"Jenna that thing is a super computer; it's rigged with a tactical nuke. It would wipe out a few streets and damage the rest of the city, but look at this thing! Do you really want to risk your only ace on the chance that it will kill it… or do you want it spattered so far and wide that the crystal empire will have to buff their windows for the next month just to clean the shit out of them?"

Jenna suddenly laughed "you know that does sound more like our big green marine style, huh."

Dwayne let out a sigh of relief.

"Right you got your drop, Eta. Sixty seconds." She said as she zoomed over the buildings and dropped a metal container attached to a parachute containing the weapon, which landed about two streets down from the marine's location.

"OOH-RAH!" Dwayne yelled, pumping the air with his fist as they ran down the street towards the nuke while Jenna kept the leviathan occupied with a small firework display that barely tickled its outer skeleton.

Dwayne and john reached the metal canister and opened the small hatch on the side revealing the small black device. Dwayne then used his combat knife to prize it open.

"What are you doing?" John asked.

"Removing the detonator so that it can't go nuclear" Dwayne replied. "I lied about the size of the blast radius; this thing will take out everything for miles."

"Then what the fuck do we do now?!" John said, panicking.

"Ditch the computer; it will set of the detonator but nothing else."

"So it can't go nuclear?" John asked

"No but it'll make a bloody big bang!" Dwayne continued, pulling the explosive from the computer and putting it in a bag.

"Now how the hell do we get on that thing?" John asked, his voice carrying the nerves he really felt.

"There!" Dwayne said pointing at a building that looked like a bank with a large clock tower on the top. "Quick before the little fuckers decide to show up!"

The two marines ran as fast as they could, the leviathan was so focused on the drop ship that it didn't pay them any mind at all. They reached the building with no resistance however the interior was a different story. Dwayne and john had only just burst through the door what they heard the telltale *HISS* that was enough to send even the toughest marines running for their mothers.

"Oh shit!" John yelled as he fired a sustained burst at a lurker that leapt at him. Suddenly as if angered by the screeches of their dyeing comrade more flooded into the room, scrambling into a hail of bullets seeking revenge. The sustained bursts of machine gun fire soon turned into a clatter of generous firing accompanied by the *THUD* of Dwayne's shotgun. Soon the xenomorphs slowed to a trickle before finally stopping, the only evidence that there were more was the view of a tail just before it disappeared into the vaulted ceiling.

"We have to keep moving…" John said as he finally got his breathing under control.

"How much ammo you got?" Dwayne asked. John in response fired one round into the ceiling before throwing down the pulse rifle and pulling out his sidearm, a No.6R.

"Ah crap" Dwayne mumbled putting his now useless shotgun back into a special holster on his back. Suddenly he had a revelation and told john to ditch the box that contained the robot sentry on his back. Dwayne took it out and discarded the stand and the optic scope before hot wiring the firing system. Then he made his way to some curtains and tore a strip out of them and wrapped it around the barrel so that he wouldn't burn his hand.

"Let's go!" Dwayne said jogging to a staircase, already panting due to the sheer weight of the sentry. John stared, his mouth hanging open slightly before coming to his senses and running after his friend.

As they ran up the staircase Dwayne spotted a haze and didn't waste any time opening fire on the target. Immediately the gun lurched back, winding Dwayne slightly and turning the xenomorph spy into, quite literally, a green mist. He quickly recovered and they kept moving. John was beginning to pull ahead of Dwayne; Dwayne was soon about fifteen meters behind john thanks to the heavy turret. Just as john had turned to wait for Dwayne a massive black hand smashed the stairway between them. Looking through the massive hole created by the leviathan's hand they could clearly see that it had been knocked over when Jenna had unleashed a particularity large volley at it. However it quickly got up and screeched deafeningly at the circling pestilence. Dwayne turned to john and threw him the satchel containing the weapon. John nodded and continued up the stairs while Dwayne turned to go back down and escape the blast zone. However two flights down Dwayne encountered a large group of xenomorphs making their way up. He immediately opened fire on them and watched as they all either dropped dead or were butchered in the subsequent fire. Dwayne suddenly gasped as the piece of cloth wrapped around the muzzle burst into flames, causing him to drop his weapon.

He looked around for another window but found none. He was about to leave the sentry when he heard a screech that seemed to be getting closer. He looked down at the gun again and his eyes seemed watered in realization. He whimpered as he looked at the haze and smoke rising from the muzzle. Tenderly he grabbed the muzzle and let out a scream that was no louder than a pained, hoarse yell as smoke rose from his now blistering, raw hand. However the approaching xenomorph rounded the corner just then and Dwayne opened fire.

Openly crying, Dwayne made his way down the staircase, listening to the muffled booms and screeches from outside. He finally reached the door and kicked it open. Outside was suddenly a warzone. Smoke and fire induced by explosives produced a smell that only a combatant would recognize. Dwayne saw the leviathan swipe a large hand at the drop ship as it flew past its head, firing its Gatling gun at the monster's face. Dwayne saw and opening and ran across the market, Dodging right and left trying to avoid the leviathans massive form. But he was lucky and made it to the opposite side of the market and hid in a basement stairway. Looking up at the tower Dwayne saw John emerge holding the bag containing the weapon in a hand as he waited for the leviathan to get close enough for him to chuck it into one of the many holes in its exoskeleton. Dwayne quickly brought up his radio.

"Jenna! Target the leviathan; force it to move closer to the tower."

"You got it!" Jenna said as she hovered and fired a volley of missiles at the leviathan causing it to stumble backwards. But just before Jenna could deliver the killing blow it swiped with a clawed hand and just grazed the side. However this knocked it slightly off course and the last missile flew into the tower. Dwayne looked open mouthed at the tower as it teetered and John fell, he dropped into a thatched building along with a lot of rubble as the tower crushed the building next to the one he landed in. Dwayne hoped he would be alright but his thoughts were quickly disturbed by the sight of the bag containing the weapon falling through the sky. Dwayne dropped the sentry and ran out to catch it before it hit the ground. Needless to say catching something as heavy as it was hurt him as he rushed back to the sentry and picked it up.

"Jenna!" Dwayne yelled into the radio "you have to make it fall over! This is our last shot!" Dwayne said as the purple shield above the city flickered and died.

"Dwayne… I'm out of missiles." Jenna said as she turned the drop ship around half a kilometer away from the leviathan. She then began to pick up speed, accelerating steadily.

"Jenna what are you doing?!" Dwayne said into his radio as he watched her get closer to his position.

"This thing is loaded with explosives Dwayne" She said "I'm sorry I couldn't be stronger."

"No!" Dwayne screamed "Jenna we can do this another way!"

The drop ship was now extremely close and was still accelerating when Jenna let out a small laugh. "Ha-ha, Dwayne I'm signing off on this one… it's been a good run."

"No" Dwayne said choking on his words at the thought of losing another friend.

"This is Jenna Rose 09/54574/3564/234 pilot aboard the USS. Sephora… signing off."

It all seemed to be happening in slow motion to Dwayne as he watched the drop ship hit the leviathan in the ribcage. The explosion was massive and only seemed to be amplified by the explosives Jenna was carrying aboard. The leviathan let out a terrible screech as it collapsed onto its side where a huge gouge had been torn into its body by the drop ship, breaking bones and searing flesh. The wreckage of the drop ship, or rather whatever was left of it hurtled into the palace after ricocheting off of the leviathan, smashing a wall and coming to rest somewhere inside the beautiful palace.

Dwayne wiped a fresh set of tears from his eyes and he ran towards the leviathan and found a hole in the exoskeleton large enough for him to climb into and stood, looking into the depths of the portable, living hive.

"Into the belly of the beast" Dwayne muttered to himself as he began to move into the depths of this abomination. The interior of the leviathan was terrifying to say the least. It seemed to be a hybrid of endoskeleton and exoskeleton, with the usual secreted resin smeared everywhere. It was a maze, with tunnels going in every direction however Dwayne was too large to fit down most of them and after a few seconds decided it would be wisest if he went down the one with the most room. Looking up he saw what must have been part of the spinal cord, jutting down from the ceiling. The interior was circular but there were hexogonical alcoves that provided strength under extreme pressure. It had the strong odor of Rotting flesh, if it weren't for the fact that I could feel the massive creature moving Dwayne would have thought that he was in any other hive. After half a minute of walking he reached what looked like a central corridor. As he took another step the whole place shuddered and what was previously a wall turned into the floor as the monster rose. Dwayne couldn't help but think 'how the hell do you kill this thing?'

Suddenly Dwayne stopped as he heard a faint *thump-thump* ahead was what looked like a black leathery heart, beating ahead of him. Dwayne felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to stand on end as he turned and saw five xenomorph fliers hurtling down the corridor at him.

Dwayne raised the modified robot sentry and opened fire at the xenomorphs until they were nothing but sizzling green puddles. Dwayne sniffed the air when he smelled burning. Looking down he watched as smoke rose from his now deformed hand, burnt so badly that he no longer felt that much pain. He dropped the smoking sentry and with a sickening smacking, tearing noise it peeled some of his skin off with it. Dwayne threw up then and there as he clutched his hand. It was red, black and the heat had fused his middle and index and middle fingers together. He tried to put the gruesome images out of his mind as he dropped to his knees next to the beating heart that was the size of a small car. Be brought out the weapon and placed it under the black heart of, as far he was concerned, all evil.

"voice authorization Pvt. Ripley, Dwayne timed detonation code 'Quoth the raven' initialize.

A small red dial appeared on the bomb and began counting down from one minute. Dwayne, with his adrenaline worn off limped to the opening in the creature's exoskeleton and simply let himself drop out of the hole. He hit a thatched roof which didn't break and he ended up rolling off of the roof and into an ally.

Weakly he looked at the leviathan as it disappeared behind some buildings, surrounded and completely covered by what looked like every single xenomorph in the city preparing to hole up inside of it as it moved to leave the city and find fresh meat.

Suddenly a stark white light filled every corner, momentarily removing all shadows in existence before it dimmed and Dwayne could hear the resounding explosion which was echoed by the mountains around Canterlot. Then there was silence. A beautiful silence with not a single sound, hiss, gunshot or scream to break it. Dwayne rolled weakly onto his side and clutched his deformed hand.

There he lay and began to weep. Sob after choked sob escaped his mouth as he clutched his hand and thought about nothing but the comforting silky smoothness of Celestia's fur and the warm smiles of all the friends he had lost… all because he brought them here.

Finally Dwayne's system overloaded with physical and emotional pain and shut down as he fell into a deep sleep.

A/N: Please leave a review!


	21. Eye of The Storm

**A/N I would like to send out my heartfelt thanks to all those who have followed my story, its really nice to hear my work appreciated!**

**Now I know that this chapter might seem a bit 'fast-paced' but it's required I think. In other news I am happy to say that this chapter of Aliens: Equestrian Marines is in its last mile so it will be ending soon, however don't worry… they will return in the sequel which I promise has a far deeper plot than this one. (It also involves three massive armies clashing against what could be the greatest foe humanity has ever faced since the Xenomorphs.) The next few chapters will be devoted to some more light-hearted exploits that our favorite ponies are so good at. Also by popular demand there will be a 'mare-season' chapter. Read and review, but more importantly have a great day!**

**Yours, Needler 343**

Chapter 21 "Eye of the Storm"

Princess Celestia was absolutely beside herself. Not one person had informed her of the fact that the humans were planning to use a nuclear weapon on her city until Dwayne and John already had the bomb. She had screamed and stomped, pacing all the while in front of Emily who, unfortunately was to bear the brunt of Celestia's anger. However that anger had dissipated when she saw exactly what had happened to the marines. At once she had ordered Shining Armor to round up as many ponies as he could to go in and find any survivors. Emily had insisted that they all bring motion trackers to ensure that no xenomorphs had managed to survive the blast.

"Look at my city." Celestia said with tears in her eyes as the group made their way through the destroyed streets. The only places that had been unaffected were the palace, train station and other locales that weren't in the center of the city.

"Sister, walls can be rebuilt and homes returned to their rightful owners." Luna said draping a wing over her distraught sister.

"Yeah princess!" Pinkie said bouncing towards the two monarchs "turn that frown upside down. Do you realize what this means… since nopony got hurt and we can rebuild all these houses in less than a month that means lots and lots of new homes… do you have any idea how many house warming parties that equates to…"

"Listen to pinkie pie princess." Twilight said as they stopped near to some of the less damaged houses. The guards that accompanied them immediately formed a circle around the girls as they talked while Emily kept her eyes glued to the motion tracker.

"Look at this damage." Celestia said, lowering her gaze to the ground "there is no way Dwayne would have been able to survive this…" she said as more tears began to pour down her face. Luna immediately covered Celestia's mouth with her hoof as she shook her head.

"Princess we should get out of here." Shining Armor said "I still think you should let us check for any more of those creatures before you come here."

"Captain Emily has made it clear that there is no more 'radiation' in the area and I am sure that the guards have enough firepower to quell anything that may disrupt our search." Celesta said as she pulled herself out of emotional turmoil and began to move forwards.

"Princess, stop moving!" Emily suddenly said as the motion tracker let out its shrill wail.

The guards who were armed immediately hefted their adapted human weapons and those that didn't still pulled out swords and bows. Emily moved forward, a motion tracker in one hand and her pulse rifle handy in another.

Quietly they approached the doorway to a house that wasn't damaged save for the roof and shattered windows. Emily flung open a door only to come face to face with the missing ceiling which had apparently fallen in. they were about to leave when they suddenly they heard a groan from inside.

"It's John!" Emily screamed as she and other ponies attempted to move rubble out of the way. They were making steady progress and soon they had removed rubble from johns head.

"John!" Emily said, dropping to her knees and cradling his head.

"Are you alright?" Shining Armor asked moving towards his exposed head.

"I-I can't feel my legs…" John said coughing up spittle mixed with blood.

"Move!" Celestia said when she heard him.

"We need to get him out quickly." Luna said standing next to her sister. The two Alicorns closed their eyes in concentration as the rubble burst into either a golden white dust or a midnight blue dust that sparkled occasionally. From there it was easy to dig John out. Immediately Emily began to remove his armor to check for wounds, his torso was fine save for some scratches and the occasional three inch splinter, His legs however… that was a different story. A large pool of blood had formed around his left leg and a long wooden shard pierced the right. When Emily removed his left shin-guard nopony expected his leg to fall off from just below the knee.

"T-That ain't mine, right…" John muttered looking down at the amputated limb as his breathing spiked.

"He's going into shock." Emily said as she quickly injected him with a sedative. Slowly his eyes began to lose focus as two ponies put him on a stretcher. As he was being taken away he grabbed Celestia's mane.

"Dwayne… Dwayne, find him… he jumped." And with that John passed out.

Almost immediately Princess Celestia unfurled her wings and launched herself into the air. She rose so quickly that only rainbow dash was able to catch up to her before she disappeared, heading towards the crater the nuke had created.

"Princess!" Rainbow Dash screamed, pushing herself just to keep up. "How do you know where Dwayne is?"

Suddenly Celestia stopped and allowed her guards to catch up to her.

"All of you are to split up and search every inch of the city until you find Prince Dwayne!" She said loudly as the guards immediately split up and flew in different directions.

Celestia sighed and returned to the rest of the ponies. They began walking around the city simply observing the damage. Soon they had found their way to the massive crater dug by the tactical nuke. By some miracle it turned out that the leviathan's immense armor plates had worked to their favor, directing any excess energy from the blast either up or down. Of course this meant that there was a massive pit in the ground, which still smoked at the bottom. The earth around it had been turned to glass and the once colorful streets had been blackened by the soot. Soon the ponies had split up, each walking in a different direction. Rainbow Dash had decided that she needed to get away from the smoking pit and collect her thoughts. Of course she didn't do this alone; shining armor and princess cadence accompanied her.

"Why would they build something like that?" Cadence asked "to use on their own kind no less…"

Shining armor chuckled darkly.

"They created it because they are like the royal guard… they fight for what they believe in and to protect their loved ones, it's just that they took it to a whole new level. In fact they took it too far and lost their way, now they don't know what they fight for… only that they want to fight." He said, his features turning into a grimace of disgust.

They soon found a bench that wasn't destroyed and sat down. Princess Cadence rested her head on shining armor and began to hum a tune that lightened their hearts. They were about to fall asleep when dash suddenly sprung off of the seat and hovered a meter from the ground.

"What's wrong Rainbow Dash?" Princess Cadence asked as rainbow dash hovered forward slightly, her ears twitching to pick up a sound.

Suddenly both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence also heard the sound Rainbow Dash was referring to. It was a low wail, a cross between a cry and a moan. Immediately they realized that it was crying, not in anguish but pain. They quickly ran around a destroyed house and into the next street where the houses were more or less intact. Rainbow Dash quickly took off and began to fly in a low circle in hopes of locating Dwayne, if it was Dwayne.

Then they heard it again. This time they found him, however deep down they sort of wished that they didn't. Looking at Dwayne in his current state was like looking at a creature from a horror story. His dirtied, blackened face coupled with his grimace and blood, his burned hand all made the ponies back away in mild fear.

That is, until they heard a hiss from behind them. Turning they saw a xenomorph that looked severely damaged from the blast. It had a severed arm and its tail was nowhere to be seen.

"Get behind me!" Shining Armor said, drawing his sword in a magical grip.

He attacked and managed to sever the other arm before his sword melted. The Xenomorph screeched loudly before lumbering slowly towards them. The three ponies backed into a wall opposite the still sobbing Dwayne and embraced each other, waiting for the end.

The xenomorph moved forward and sniffed at Dwayne, who didn't even react save for a few more choked sobs. It then turned its head to the three cowering ponies which presented the biggest threat. It moved its head closer so as to bite them. Shining Armor immediately bucked it in the face which resulted in it stumbling back a few steps, spraying a dollop of acid onto the stallion's armor.

"Argh! Get it off!" he screamed, fumbling with the straps of his armor. It clattered to the ground and continued melting, leaving Shining Armor with a bad burn on his chest.

Once again the xenomorph moved towards them and they cowered back. Princess Cadence hugged her husband in anticipation for the end. They all looked at the monster as it opened its mouth for the final, killing stroke.

"Hey ugly!"

The xenomorph turned to see Dwayne standing, holding a length of pipe in his good hand. Dwayne brought the metal rod down on the xenomorphs face. It screeched and fell to the ground, far too damaged to fight back.

"Let's put a smile on that face!" Dwayne said as he swiped the pipe across the xenomorphs face and repeated the motion Celestia knows how many times. He didn't even notice when Celestia and the others arrived on the scene and froze as they watched him relentlessly beat the fallen xenomorph.

Celestia tried to approach Dwayne but was held back by Luna as Dwayne laughed. Not his usual warm, endearing laugh but a cold heartless one. None of the ponies had ever seen Dwayne actually take pleasure in harming anything but here he was cackling like a loony, bashing a xenomorphs head in. finally with a loud *Crunch!* the xenomorph's exoskeleton broke and the pipe began to cleave a trench in the monsters head. With one final stroke Dwayne slashed at the xenomorphs jaw, snapping it clean off.

"Hahahaha!" He laughed before bending down over the body "Cone on…give it to me…" He muttered fiddling with the body.

"D-Dwayne…" Celestia said quietly, moving forwards until she heard a crunch come from where Dwayne was kneeling.

"Aha! There you are!" He said in a hyper-enthusiastic voice. Standing he turned to Celestia and presented the xenomorph's tongue. Celestia was even more horrified by his appearance, she looked from his face to his hand to the tongue and took a step back.

"I got you a present, dear!" He said happily, presenting the tongue to Celestia and making her backpedal to Luna's side.

"Aww don't you like it?" He said advancing on her, his arms spread wide.

The royal guards didn't like the way this seemed to be going and surrounded Dwayne. Dwayne growled at them until he felt a sudden impact on his neck. His hand instinctively flew to the spot where he felt the impact and pulled out a dart. He only had time to look behind him and see Emily holding a dart gun before he fell to the ground.

"What was wrong with him?!" Princess Cadence shrieked pointing a hoof at Dwayne's still form.

"Excessive amounts of adrenaline brought on by excessive combat coupled with a natural fight or flight reflex." Emily said "basically he went nuts for a while."

"Will he recover?" Princess Celestia asked.

"Yes, he just needs rest, as for his hand… oh boy, I can't tell." Emily said before she moved to check on Shining Armor's wounds.

"Well let's get them to the Palace." Twilight said, moving to put a hoof around Celestia.

"Yes and send out an order for all crafts ponies, tell them that we have a city to rebuild." Luna said as she turned and began to walk away.

[Four Hours Later.]

Princess Celestia refused to leave Dwayne's side while they took him and John to the temporary medical center that had been set up in the palace to help all of the wounded ponies. However the extent of their injuries meant that they had to go back to the Hope colony in order to receive the proper treatment. And in their condition the ponies didn't dare teleport the two humans. it would be a long chariot ride from the palace to the colony. Luckily Emily had come along and pumped both John and Dwayne full of so many painkillers it was a miracle that they weren't foaming at the mouth. Suddenly the golden chariot was joined by a black one pulled by changelings. From the inside they could make out the form of Queen Chrysalis waving at them.

"As soon as we heard about Canterlot we came over to help!" She yelled across the gap between the two chariots. "The others are already there waiting!"

And with that she sped ahead of the Princesses chariot and down towards the ground. The Royal guards followed her descent and landed just outside of the Hope colony. As soon as they landed the dragon leader, Ragnarock rushed in and picked up a human in each arm. And ran to the entrance of the colony and all the way to the medical bay where he set them down on separate operating tables. When the ponies and Emily finally caught up they found all of the representatives already waiting for them.

"What happened to them?!" Chrysalis squealed when she saw the full extent of the humans' wounds.

"It's a long story." Twilight said as Emily approached John.

"Right we are going to need a synthetic leg…" She muttered looking over his leg as a medical capsule enveloped John and began to patch up his wounds.

She then walked to Dwayne and looked at his bruises, burns and cuts.

"Damn… he really went all out." Emily said "I have to get all this off to treat everything." She continued as she began to remove his battered armor and torn clothing. Celestia couldn't help but blush as all the other ponies and representatives regarded him without cloths.

"Interesting muscle structure." Queen Matilda commented as they stared at Emily who grabbed a shower head and rinsed him off. Once he was clean he was looking more human and much less intimidating.

"I don't know if I can fix this without some way more advanced tech…" Emily said looking at Dwayne's hand.

"Maybe we can help." Ragnarock said, stepping forward with Shamene.

"We have to deal with burns all the time." Shamene continued.

"And I could help as well, we changelings have perfected the art of reforming deformed body parts, it's an occupational hazard." Queen Chrysalis said as she looked over Dwayne's hand.

"Yes I can fix this; he will be as good as new… as for him though." Chrysalis said turning to John "I'm sorry to say that I can't re-grow lost limbs."

"Well thats it…" Emily said as she finished bandaging Dwayne. "I'm staying here to monitor them. You guys can hang out here or go do whatever you want."

With that the rest of the ponies and representatives left. But after a few minutes Princess Celestia returned and just looked at Dwayne. Emily noticed this and pulled over a chair to sit next to Celestia.

"whats it like?" She asked.

"What?" Celestia replied

"Being in love and married. I've always wondered." Emily said dreamily.

"it's... it's like you are floating on the highest cloud and your heart is beating really fast in the his hands all the time… that's why it hurts so much to see Dwayne like this." Celestia said "I…Urgh!" She suddenly doubled over, clutching her middle and gritting her teeth.

"Princess!" Emily yelled, rushing to her side.

"I'm fine, it's been happening for a week now." Celestia replied.

"A week… Princess let me take a look." Emily said leading Princess Celestia to a sonic medical scanner.

"Now this should detect any abnormalities…" Emily said as Celestia lay in her side under the machine.

"Now let's just get a look see." Emily said happily tapping a few keys into a nearby computer. Suddenly her jaw dropped and her cheeks turned bright red, she them looked from the princess to the screen then back to the princess.

"What do you see?" Celestia asked, getting worried.

"Umm…Princess, is it alright if I ask you a few questions?" Emily asked.

"Of course, so long as it pertains to my health." Celestia replied.

"Are you…that is to say, have you been sexually active recently?" Emily asked looking at the ground.

Celestia immediately blushed "I don't see how that is relevant to anything but yes."

"Can I ask with whom exactly have you engaged with?" Emily pressed on.

"Why Dwayne of course…" Celestia said.

"Impossible!" Emily protested "what about before him."

"No he is the first and only." Celestia said, getting irritated at all the questions.

Emily just stared open-mouthed at the Princess.

"I demand that you tell me what you know!" Celestia yelled suddenly.

Emily cowered back slightly and answered in a tinny, quiet voice.

"P-Princess, you're pregnant."

Celestia just stared at her…

"WHAT!" she suddenly boomed in her royal canterlot voice. Not noticing the other ponies enter the room, drawn by the sudden outburst.

"I-it seems to be a normal equine foal…how?" Emily said, trailing off into her own thoughts.

"A-a-a FOAL!" Princess Luna suddenly shrieked "Sister hath thou been totally loyal to thy mate!"

"Oh Luna please you know that I would never engage in such a… unsavory act." Celestia replied, angry that anypony could accuse her of adultery.

"Princess I am going to run a quick test okay, it will only take a minute. I'm going to use what is called a 'sample syringe' it basically scans all genetic data and synthesizes a blood sample without ever even piercing your skin or harming the child, I mean…foal." Emily said as she drew a Weyland-tech sample syringe and gestured to the princess. Princess Celestia presented her belly and Emily drew a small sample. She then took it to a table and placed the syringe in a small machine which revved loudly. True to her word Emily had finished after a single tense minute. She looked at the screen and gasped.

"It's Dwayne's DNA alright… but this is impossible! There are too many gaps in the genetics…" Emily said walking over to Dwayne's sleeping form and taking a blood sample.

"I think it's best if we don't tell him as soon as he wakes up. Let's give him time to recover." She continued.

"Well… I have to read up on my science before I can tackle this, I may be the team medic but I deal with bringing lives back from the brink not bringing them into this world." Emily said, rubbing her temple and picking up a data pad.

"So we wait…" Rarity said.

"I can help!" Twilight suddenly burst out "I've read extensively on pony physiology."

"Great you stay here, the rest of you please leave and give us some space. Princess you are free to go but we might need to call you in and run some more tests, in the meantime just take it easy. No running, jumping or flying. You don't want to hurt that foal now do you?" Emily said turning back to her screen.

"Please may I…" Celestia began but Emily beat her to the chase and pulled the screen around for Celestia to see. In it was a 3D image of what was clearly the outline of a miniature foal, as yet undeveloped. Even as she watched it seemed to move a little and she felt the same pain in her stomach. She couldn't help but smile, she had never, in all her years of life expected this.

After a few hours the princess was called in for another sample, this time of her blood. Emily took a small amount very slowly, taking care so as not to cause any pain to the princess.

"Have you found anything?" The princess asked.

"Actually yes, it would seem that Alicorns have an extremely adaptive immune system, we think that this applies to other parts of your body as well. Hell, it could be the reason you are immortal. But both twilight and I think that it's a necessary adaption for your species."

"What does that mean?" The princess asked again, starting to get very confused.

"Well since our arrival I haven't seen any male Alicorns. Now none if this is set in stone but I'm betting that your reproductive system is just as adaptive as the rest of you, taking any form of DNA and using it as a substitute. I'm wondering if there could be some sort of enzyme that alters the DNA to make it useful… anyway I'm pretty sure we can figure this out." Emily finished and placed a hand on the princess's back. "I don't think anypony has had time to tell you this but… congratulations."

Princess Celestia smiled weakly and nodded in gratitude before leaving and returning to the mess hall where, she hoped, the others had gathered for lunch.

[Mess hall]

Princess Celestia walked into the mess and found all of the girls and her sister sitting at a table. The rest of the representatives had left to extract their forces and leave Equestria so that they could return to their own kingdoms. The only one that had stayed was Queen Chrysalis who insisted that she needed to get away from 'those insolent whelps' as she so kindly put it. As Celestia sat at the table all the other ponies greeted her with large smiles. Immediately they began asking about her condition, Twilight Sparkle was flipping through some books on pony physiology and muttering to herself as she did it. She was so immersed in the book that it took Celestia using her 'official' voice just to snap her out of it when the food was ready.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" Rainbow Dash complained, pushing her tray away and gagging at the sludge that she had just taken a bite of.

"It's what humans call corn bread sugar cube. Y'all should eat it, it's good for ya." Applejack said through a mouthful of the stuff.

"Well it's absolutely ghastly!" Rarity scoffed "I know the military is not supposed to be luxurious, but come on!"

"Oh my…" Fluttershy said quietly, pushing the tray of food away from herself "I suppose we could eat these…" She continued, pulling a selection of carrots and some fruits from her saddlebag.

"Fluttershy you are awesome!" Rainbow Dash said, diving into the pile of fresh greens.

They continued eating their meals in peace, the laughter was broken however by a sleepy voice from behind the ponies.

"Did ya' miss me?"


End file.
